


Partners in Every Way

by MiladyDragon



Series: Dragon-Verse: Series Two [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon-Verse, Dragons, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magic, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-23
Updated: 2012-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-12 18:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiladyDragon/pseuds/MiladyDragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Ianto are back to work after their time off, just as Jack's ex-partner, John Hart, arrives on the scene.   Just what is Hart up to, and just what are they going to do to stop him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Dragon-Verse version of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang".

 

**_14 June 2008_ **

 

****

_“Hey kids,” Jack asked, grinning, “did you miss us?”_

_  
_

It had, in retrospect, been a silly question, but then Jack really did love an entrance.

“Were you gone?” Owen snarked, rolling his eyes and going back to looking after the gunshot victim.  Knowing the medic the way he did, Jack didn’t take offense at all.  It was the way Owen showed he cared.

Gwen didn’t look at all impressed; in fact, she looked furious as she tried to calm the woman she’d been protecting.  Jack thought he knew her well enough that he was fully expecting to get an earful at some point, probably sooner rather than later.

Toshiko though favoured him with a welcoming smile, and gave him and then Ianto a brief hug before going back to starting clean-up.

He felt Ianto’s hand on his shoulder.  “You can’t win them all,” the dragon’s voice breathed a teasing burst of air against his ear.

Jack couldn’t help by shiver a little.   “But I have to keep trying.”

“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” Ianto said playfully.

The unmistakable sound of the police arriving brought a sigh to Jack’s lips.  “You mind talking to the local coppers?  I hear the dulcet tones of the pandas coming closer even as we flirt with each other.”

Ianto smirked.  “Of course, Sir.” 

“You know what that does to me!” Jack called out to the dragon’s retreating back.

A single shimmy of the hips was Ianto’s response.

It was now time for the Captain to come out and play.  Jack found he’d missed it.

He knelt down next to Owen, watching as he worked over the male victim.  There was too much blood, and Jack was worried that they might have to cover up yet another death, and on his first night back, too.  “He going to be okay?” he asked Owen concernedly.

“Think so, although he’d gonna be laid up for a while.  He’s lost a lot of blood.”

Jack was relieved.  “Ianto will send the EMT’s in as soon as they arrive.”  He stood, and watched Gwen with the mother and daughter, showing that compassion that Jack had known she’d have…and yet didn’t seem to show around her colleagues.  It was really sad that Gwen could project caring toward complete strangers, and yet so disregard her own teammates.  Unless something had changed over the linear months that he’d been gone…but then, Jack was certain Ianto would have mentioned it.

 Seeing that Gwen appeared to have that all under control he went to help Toshiko with the corpse.   “It’s good to have you both back,” she murmured, as she scanned the corpse with her PDA. 

“You know,” he admitted, “it’s really good to be back.  Our family is back together again.”

Toshiko smiled, and looked as if she was going to say something, when her scanner began to beep.She frowned.  “There’s something giving off an energy reading in his right trouser pocket.”




Jack used the pair of gloves that she produced from her jacket to root around inside the Blowfish’s trousers…which was not at all as sexy as it seemed.  His hand clutched what felt like metal, and he pulled whatever it was out, revealing a dull metal pyramid.  “Getting anything from it?” he asked.

“No, it’s shielded.  Just the energy that gave it away.”

He touched the comm. in his ear.  “Ianto, can you bring in a containment box?  And a body bag while you’re at it.”

_“I’m on it,”_ the dragon answered.

“We’ll get this back and study it later,” Jack went on, toggling off the comm.  

‘You have any ideas?” Toshiko asked, continuing her scan.

“No, afraid not.  It could be anything.”

“Lovely.  Not only was this fish high, it could have been carrying around something potentially dangerous.”

Ianto brought in the requested box and bag, and Jack locked the pyramid-shaped device inside.  Ianto carried it back out to the SUV, while the captain and Toshiko wrestled the Blowfish into the body bag, zipping it up just as the EMT’s arrived to take over for Owen. 

The team worked well together, and Jack felt a rush of pride at them all.  It obviously hadn’t taken Toshiko and Owen long to reintegrate into what passed for normal within Torchwood, and they’d managed to fall back onto their usual routines even after the year they’d all just suffered through.   Jack hoped that he and Ianto would do as well, although he was pretty certain they would.

It took about two hours to get the scene cleared, the witnesses Retconned, the father to the hospital, and the house looking as if a drug-addled kid had broken in, looking for money to pay for his next fix.

It wasn’t too far from the truth, considering the Blowfish had been on cocaine.  Jack never could quite understand the need to go to a primitive planet and try every recreational drug under the rainbow.  He wondered if he’d ever been that young and stupid…and realized that yes, he had been.

He’d grown up.  He wondered exactly when that had happened.

Together, he and Ianto got the Blowfish into the back of the SUV, and they followed it in Ianto’s car back to the Hub.  Jack hadn’t known just how much he’d missed the place until they were pulling into the car park.  “It’s really like coming back to where we belong,” he murmured, as Ianto pulled into his customary spot.

“I felt like that when I came back from my leave after Lisa,” Ianto admitted, turning in his seat.  “Ddraig Llyn might be home to us, but this…this is where our family is.”

He saw eternity in those blue eyes.

Jack couldn’t help it.  He looped his hand around the back of Ianto’s neck and pulled him forward, pressing his lips against his mate’s, losing himself in the intimacy of the moment.  

The kiss didn’t last long, because they were interrupted by a sharp rapping against the passenger side window.  Jack pulled away reluctantly, turning to glare at Owen, who was making exaggerated gagging expressions at them.

“This corpse isn’t gonna get to the autopsy bay by itself,” Owen said through the glass.  “And you both don’t need to flaunt the fact that you’re both loved up.  Now, get your arses out here and give us a hand.”  With that, he walked back to the SUV, standing next to the open boot.

Jack sighed.  “Why do I suddenly feel like a parent who just got told off by their son?”

“As long as you’re the mother,” Ianto teased. 

“Haven’t we had this conversation before?” Jack groused, opening his door.

“We have.  And I seem to recall we also came to the conclusion that Owen is very much your son.”

Jack laughed.  “Just don’t tell Alice, all right?  She might disinherit us both for bringing such a brother into the world.”

The dragon simply rolled his eyes, and got out of the car.

“Let’s get things taken care of,” Jack said, climbing from the vehicle and addressing his waiting team.  “Then let’s call it a night.  We can handle debriefings and paperwork later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Owen agreed.  “I don’t think fishface here will go off before I get a chance to go sushi chef on him.”

Gwen made a face.  “That’s disgusting.”

“That’s our Owen,” Ianto said, joining the medic at the rear of the SUV.  “Let’s get our newest ‘guest’ into the freezer so we can all head home.”

Jack followed the pair as they manhandled the body into the Hub, and down to the autopsy bay.  He split off and went into his office, grinning as he saw that nothing had changed in the time he’d been gone.  Everything was just as he remembered it, and he silently thanked Ianto for leaving things as they’d been.

He moved around the desk, sinking into the chair.  Jack couldn’t help but smile as he ran his hands along the chair’s arms, feeling the worn leather under his fingers.  So much had occurred since the last time he’d sat there, and yet it was as familiar as if it had been yesterday. 

Jack looked out over the Hub.  Toshiko was at her station, entering something into her terminals, the containment box that held the metal pyramid on the desk at her right hand.  He couldn’t see Owen or Ianto; most likely they were still in the autopsy bay, putting the Blowfish to bed for the night.  He couldn’t see Gwen either, and he hoped she was already gone.

Leaning back in his chair, Jack sighed, letting his eyes raise to the ceiling.  That was also familiar, the bedrock that the Hub had been carved from, stained with age and damp.  He’d have to go down into his bunker at some point, just to check it out, but he lived more at Ianto’s anymore than the Hub.  They’d even talked about him moving in full-time, back during their week off, and Jack had to admit he wasn’t at all adverse to the idea.   Being with his dragon every day was what Jack wanted more than anything. 

“Jack?”

He came out of his thoughts.Sitting upright, Jack smiled slightly at Gwen, who was standing just inside the door.“Hello Gwen,” he greeted her.“I thought maybe you’d gone home.”




“Not yet.”  She stepped further into the office.

 Jack could tell by her expression that something was on her mind.  He really didn’t want to talk to her, but it would be best to get whatever she wanted to say out in the open.

However, that didn’t stop him from trying to derail her a bit.

“Ianto tells me that Rhys asked you to marry him,” he said.  “Congratulations.”

Gwen looked surprised at the comment.  “Yes, he did.”

“Did he get down on one knee?”  Jack asked.

“He tried to,” she answered, smiling slightly, “but then he got a twinge in his back and had to lie on the settee.  That’s when he popped the question.”

“And you said yes,” he grinned.  “That’s fantastic.”

“Well, no one else will have me.”

Jack barely hid his flinch.  When Ianto had told him that Gwen seemed to have settled down and had gotten engaged, he’d been genuinely happy for her.  He’d thought that Gwen had finally made her choice, and had realized that she’d loved Rhys as much as he obviously loved her. 

This wasn’t the response he’d been expecting. 

“So you don’t love him?” he demanded. 

Her eyes widened.  “I didn’t say that!”

“You intimated it.Gwen, if you don’t love Rhys, then you shouldn’t have said yes to him.”There might have been a time when getting into a relationship with someone would have been a cavalier act for him, but not anymore, especially not after the words he and Ianto had shared on the _Valiant_.And marriage was something else entirely; it might have been slightly different when he came from, but the very act of commitment was respected and never entered into lightly.“However,” he went on, “that’s none of my business.  I just hope you and Rhys will be very happy.”




“Thank you,” she said, not happy at all.  “I’m sure we will be.”  Gwen moved up to the desk, resting her fists against the surface, leaning over him.  Jack wondered if she knew that her breasts were on full display, or if she thought she was being intimidating.  “Right now, we have other things to discuss.”

“Do we really, Gwen?”  He leaned back, his demeanour calm. 

He and Ianto had known there would be a confrontation.  Gwen was the only one who didn’t know what had happened, how they’d survived a year that never happened.  She didn’t have the background that the others did.  All she knew was that Jack had gone, and the captain knew this was what she would be furious about.

“You left us, Jack,” she accused.“We knew nothing!”




Jack frowned.  “You might not have known anything, but Ianto was very aware of where I’d gone.”

“But you didn’t tell the rest of us!”

“Wrong, Gwen.  I did.  I explained to each of you that I was waiting for my Doctor.  That I needed answers as to why I couldn’t die.  It’s not my fault you apparently disregarded that.”  He really didn’t want to be angry with her, since she was speaking out of ignorance, but he couldn’t help it.   “I spent over one hundred years on this planet, doing Torchwood’s dirty work.  If anyone deserves any sort of peace, it’s me.”

“So you were being selfish!”

“Yes, I was.”  Jack glared at her.  “I was being selfish.  I needed to know why I’m the way I am.  But I did consider what I was doing, and it was Ianto who helped me decide to go, because he knew it would eat away at me if I let the opportunity pass.”

“He had no right to encourage you leaving.  We needed you here.”

“From what I’ve been told, yes…you did need me.  But you also did just fine on your own.  Ianto was a very capable leader and he got you all through everything that happened while I was gone…just as I knew he would.”  He stared her down.  “I’ve built this team with the exact knowledge that, one day, the Doctor would come, and that I would be gone.  You are all quite capable, and I had no doubts that you would all do an exemplary job while I was away.”

Gwen scoffed.  She straightened, crossing her arms over her chest.  “Right…and when you were off gallivanting with your Doctor, did you even consider what was going on here?  What your so-called Second was up to?”

Jack frowned.  “What do you mean by that?”

“With all that nonsense about Great Dragons and Friends and all that!  He’s practically brainwashed poor Tosh, and Owen’s no better!  He’s got them believing that there’s some sort of mystical creatures out there, and that they have insight into the future!  And he followed their so-called advice to London, and nothing happened!”

“Were you in London?” the Captain demanded, rising.  Now he was truly angry; he really wanted to cut her some slack, but not when she was questioning the word of his mate and of the Great Dragons.  “Do you have any clue as to what went on there?”

“Of course I do!  I’ve seen the reports.  There was no alien invasion, only Saxon going nuts and killing the American President, and then being killed in turn.  Nothing happened, Jack.  There was nothing!”

Jack found himself grinding his teeth.  _She didn’t know, she only heard the cover that UNIT put out…_   “Then you don’t know the full story, and I won’t hear you questioning Ianto or the Great Dragons ever again.  There are more things out there in the Universe than you could ever imagine, and if you don’t open your mind to new possibilities you won’t last.  Now, I suggest you gather your things and head home to Rhys.  And at least try to remember exactly why you’re marrying him.”

Gwen opened her mouth to say something else, and Jack was never more grateful to hear the Rift alert go off.  He darted past her, and toward Tosh’s station.  “What have we got?” he asked, putting a hand on her back.

So much for getting any rest tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

Ianto helped Owen wrestle the body bag with the dead Blowfish down into the autopsy bay and onto the metal table, not being too gentle about it.  He was a bit heavier than Ianto had thought, and it was a good thing two of them were doing the job because one person wouldn’t have been able to handle it. 

He’d noticed at the crime scene that both Toshiko and Owen seemed to have settled back into their accustomed roles with Torchwood, and Ianto was glad for it.  They’d all been through so much…it would have been understandable if any of them had become too scarred by what had happened that they could no longer handle the pace and weirdness that Torchwood was.  But they – all of them – were strong, and the dragon was grateful that they were all back where they belonged.

He watched as Owen began preparing one of the cold storage drawers for their ‘guest’.  “You and Tosh holding up all right?” he asked quietly, not wanting Gwen to hear their conversation.  He thought they both looked fine, but what if there was something hidden within their professional facade?  He and Jack needed to know, in order to plan accordingly.

“Been a bit weird, to be honest,” the medic answered, just as quietly.He stopped what he was doing, and leaned his hip against the closed drawer door.“Thank God for Tosh, because I didn’t realize I’d forget so bloody much, especially my passcodes.I’d never have gotten into the Hub without her.I’m just glad it’s been slow up until now, because I’ve had to train myself up on some of the procedures all over again.”




Ianto nodded in understanding.  “I think we four should go over some of the stuff we’ve forgotten before things get out of hand…because you know they will.”

“Good idea.  Preferably without Cooper around, okay?  I know Jack wants to keep her in the dark about what happened…”  He sighed.  “Look, I’m not so sure hiding this from her is such a good idea. I can see Jack’s point about wanting her to keep her innocence of the whole bloody year, but since she hasn’t actually had to live through it, I don’t see why it would be such a big deal for her to at least have the basics.  I’m just concerned that it’s gonna come back and bite us all on the arse at some point.”

“I’m of two minds about it, to be honest,” Ianto admitted.  “Yes, I can see Jack’s point as well, since the year was the worst for him out of all of us, and he doesn’t want any sort of pity.  But you’re also right; we know how Gwen is.  If she even gets a whiff of a clue as to what happened, she won’t let it go until she knows it all.”

Owen snorted.  “It’s one of the reasons he hired her: for her tenacity.”

“Some say tenacity…some others say sheer bloody-mindedness.”

Owen rolled his eyes.  “Your words, Dragon Boy. Not mine. But then I know how you feel about her.”

Ianto had confided in both Toshiko and Owen, not long after Jack had gone, and during the worst of Gwen’s tirades toward him for letting Jack leave in the first place.  Things seem to have settled down between the dragon and the ex-copper now, but there for a couple of weeks it had been ugly coming into the Hub every day…well, when he hadn’t stayed the night in his hoard room, which had been nearly all the time.   There had been a couple of moments when Ianto had come very close to Retconning Gwen, but his professionalism had risen to the fore, and he’d come to the conclusion that they needed all the help they could get, and being one man down was better than missing two.




“My feelings don’t matter,” he replied, unzipping the bag in order to get the Blowfish out and ready for storage.  “What matters is the team.  If it looks like things are going to get ugly, I’ll have to step in.”

“That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

It was Ianto’s turn to roll his eyes.  “Yeah, really big bucks.”  Actually, it was quite a nice pay packet, and if he added in his combined hoards – at the Hub, at home, and back at Ddraig Llyn – the dragon knew he was quite possibly one of the wealthiest people in Wales…if not in Great Britain.  Not that he flaunted any of it, but four out of five of them in Torchwood knew about his hoards, and what they contained.

Owen went back to work as Ianto freed the body from the bag.  “Jack and I have discussed it,” he went on, changing the subject, “and we’ve decided that you and Tosh both need some time off as well, to recover from the last year.  It didn’t seem fair that he and I got our vacation…”

“You two needed it, especially Jack,” the medic said, “but I’m not gonna turn down time off.  In fact, if Jack bothers to check his paperwork, he’ll already find a request from Tosh.  Kathy wants her to meet her family in Newport.”  He opened the door, and pulled the drawer out.  “Gotta say, I was surprised those two got together, but Kathy’s been really good for Tosh.  And Tosh deserves a bit of happiness.”

“So do you,” Ianto pointed out.

Together, the two managed to wrestle the dead Blowfish into the drawer.  With an air of finality, Owen slammed the door shut.  “I talked to Diane the first night we got back,” he admitted.  “I had to check on her, you know?”  Ianto nodded.  “It really hit home for me that no one remembers the hell we went through.”

“Are you going to try for a long distance relationship with her?”

Owen shrugged.  “I’d like to.  She does, too.  But we’ll see where it takes us.  They say that sort of relationship doesn’t work…”

“But you can at least talk to each other online and over the phone.”

“Yeah.  And maybe on this time off you and Harkness have promised I could take a quick trip to Alaska.” 

“We’ll make it happen.”  Ianto clapped Owen on the shoulder.  He was about to say something else, but the unmistakable sound of Gwen yelling at Jack interrupted him. 

“She couldn’t even give him a chance to settle in,” Owen growled.  “What is her issue?”

“I think she actually took Jack’s leaving personally.”  Ianto had come to that conclusion during those weeks after Jack had gone.

“Yeah, well I always did believe she thought more of herself in Jack’s life than she actually is.  Didn’t help that Jack didn’t disavow her of that until it was too late."

Ianto had to agree, but Jack had been so much better about not letting Gwen get away with things before he’d gone off with the Doctor.“I know she certainly blamed me for it.”




“Yeah, well…she’ll blame you if the sun goes behind the clouds.”  Owen sighed.  “I bet you wish she’d never found out about you being a mythical creature.”

“It was bound to happen.”

“You were great at keeping it from Suzie.  I never understood why you didn’t clue her in.”

“There was just something about Suzie I didn’t trust,” the dragon admitted.  “Maybe it was because she was from One; but I didn’t feel comfortable telling her, not like with you and Tosh.  You both accepted it really well.”

“Was there something about Cooper you didn’t trust either?”  Owen sounded merely curious, and not like he was trying to dig up information he could use.

“There’s…a darkness in Gwen.I sensed it immediately.I tried to tell Jack about it that night he hired her, but he was too much into rationalizing why he’d done it to actually listen.”Ianto still remembered that night on top of the Millennium Centre roof, knowing that the being called the Tarot Girl had spoken truly about the dragon getting his heart broken.  He’d long ago forgiven Jack for his actions, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t be bothered by them just a bit.




“All that humanity bollocks?” Owen snorted.   “Sure, we can all act like dicks, but if we weren’t human we wouldn’t be doing what we do.”

Ianto was about to agree with him, when the unmistakable feeling of a Rift spike rolled over him.  “We have a – “

The alarm went off.

“Rift spike.”

Owen laughed.  “Getting a little slow on the uptake, Dragon Boy?”

“I’m allowed to be out of practice,” he answered primly as both dragon and medic took the steps up to the main Hub and met the others at Toshiko’s station.

 

********** 

 

The Rift alert took them to a car park near City Centre, where the local police had already cordoned off the area.Ianto approached the copper at the crime scene tape…and he smiled as he recognized him.




“Good evening, PC Davidson,” the dragon said cordially.  He’d met the man a couple of times before, but he hadn’t really gotten to know him until Gwen had come onboard with Torchwood.  “Or, should I say good morning?”

The young man rolled his eyes.  “This isn’t one of your spooky do’s, is it?”

“We’re not sure,” Ianto hedged.  His eyes tracked his team as they began working around what appeared to be a body.  “We’ll be glad to give you the scene back if it isn’t.”

“Least you could’ve done was bring out some coffee when you came!”

Ianto chuckled.  “Sorry, but we thought we’d be at home by now, or else I’d have brought a thermos.”  He had a reputation with the constabulary for his coffee…although if they really knew the reason he was wont to bring coffee to various so-called crime scenes they might not have wanted to accept any from him again. 

Together they stood watching as Toshiko started scanning the corpse.  “DI Swanson said you and Himself were coming back today.  Honestly, got to say we’re all glad to see it.  It hasn’t been the same this last week, without seeing the Captain swan in and take control.  Got a certain flair, he has.”

The dragon couldn’t argue with that. 

But at the same time, Ianto now knew what Owen had meant about it all coming home to him when he’d talked to Diane.  Here was Andrew Davidson, being completely normal, with no clue that he’d died during a year that had never happened to anyone but the dragon himself and a handful of others. 

He could see Jack’s point even more now, about not telling Gwen.  The certain knowledge of everything that had occurred – even though whoever they told wouldn’t be getting it first-hand – would be enough to weigh down anyone.  Could they really burden someone with that?  Wasn’t it better to leave people in ignorance…and innocence?

Jack and Gwen were arguing about something, and Ianto stifled his sigh.  He’d have to ask Jack what burr was up her arse later; now, it was just completely unprofessional to confront one’s boss like that, in front of others. 

“Is it true?” Andy interrupted his thoughts.

“Is what true?” the dragon asked, turning back to look at him.

“That Swanson one of your teammates are together?”  He didn’t seem upset or anything; merely curious.

Ianto stiffened.  “I don’t think that’s my place to say.  Why don’t you ask the detective inspector if you’re so curious?”

Horror flashed across Andy’s expressive face.  “Are you kidding, mate?  There’s no way I’m asking her anything!  My life isn’t worth it.”

“Now that shows good sense,” Ianto said, clapping his hand on the PC’s shoulder.  “Ah…looks like we’re done here.”  Ianto held up the yellow tape for the team. 

“It’s all yours, PC Davidson,” Jack announced.  “SOCO can eliminate us from anything they find.  Although we were pretty careful.”  He winked playfully at the obviously flustered Andy.

The dragon rolled his eyes.  He let the tape fall once Owen was through, and then turned back.  “Thank you, Mr. Davidson,” he said sincerely.  “We’ll let you know if we need anything else.  You and your people have been very helpful.”

Andy looked mollified by Ianto’s words.  “Don’t mention it,” he said.  “Glad we can be of help.”

They shook hands, and Ianto made his way back to the SUV, where the rest of the team was waiting.  “Anything interesting?” he asked, joining them.

Jack nodded.  “Looks like someone pushed that man from one of the upper decks of the car park.  They had to have come through the Rift, judging from the energy found on the man’s body.”

“So we’re dealing with a homicidal visitor.”  This wasn’t good.  There was no telling if there would be any more victims before they managed to catch whatever was responsible.

Jack was about to answer when his vortex manipulator beeped.

Ianto had heard that sound before, when he’d been wearing it during that lost year.  It was a signal saying that a communication was coming through. 

His mate looked surprised at the sound.  He flipped open the cover, and pressed a button.

An image projected from the wrist strap.

It was of a man, dressed in anachronistic clothing, as if he’d stepped straight from the Napoleonic Era.  A sword hung from his belt, as well as a pair of guns that didn’t belong in the time the uniform had come from.  He was an attractive sort, with short hair and nice cheekbones…but with an expression that Ianto just didn’t like. 

The image began to speak.

 _“I can’t believe I got the answering machine!”_ the voice had a British accent, and yet there was something off about it, as if it wasn’t necessarily the speaker’s first language.  _“What can you be doing that’s more important than me?”_

That’s when Ianto knew this was one of Jack’s exes.  He hadn’t really asked Jack much about his past, simply because he was content to be Jack’s present and future and the past didn’t matter.  But it looked like that past had just come back, and judging from Jack’s expression he wasn’t at all happy about it.

 _“Anyway,”_ the man went on, _“you’ve probably traced the energy shift and found the body.  All me…sorry about the mess.  Bill me for the clean-up.”_

And it sounded like a psychotic ex to boot.  This was turning out to be a lousy welcome back.

 _“Now!”_  The man clapped his hands together smartly.  _“Drinks.  Retrolock the transmission coordinates, that’s where I am.  And hurry up…work to do!”_ He looked around in an exaggerated manner, and when he spoke again it was in a falsetto.  _“Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!”_ The image made the movements that Ianto was familiar with from the movie he was quoting, and then faded.

Jack prodded the manipulator, then closed the cover.  He looked as if he’d just sucked on a very sour lemon. 

“Who the hell was that?” Gwen demanded. 

“He apparently knew you,” Toshiko added.

“That,” Jack answered reluctantly, “was someone I’d hoped I’d never see again.”

“Past or future?” Ianto asked.

“Future…far future.”  Jack looked as if he didn’t want to say anything, but he seemed to make up his mind quickly.  “You know I told you all about the Time Agency?”

Ianto did.  Jack had told him about working for them, and how they’d stolen those two years from his memories.  Judging from the affirmations from his teammates, Jack had been equally open with the others as well.

“That,” his mate indicated the place where the transmission had been, “was my ex-partner.  And he’s apparently found me…which cannot be good.”

 Ianto got the impression that Jack was seriously understating things.  “You’re not going to meet him alone,” he growled, feeling the sudden need to protect his mate.

“Not hardly,” Jack agreed.  “I’ll need all the back-up I can get.  Let’s go.”

As they all climbed into the SUV, Ianto had the sudden feeling that things were about to get very ugly.


	3. Chapter 3

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

Jack ground his teeth as he drove through the dark streets of Cardiff, his mind in the past…or the future, depending on how he wanted to look at it.

He’d never known his partner’s real name.  One of the rules of the Time Agency was that no one used their real names, and what names they did choose to go by could never be used for long; the longer they did, the larger trail they would make through time, and the easier it would be for someone to track them.  Of course, Jack had never told him his real name either, not even when they’d been trapped in that time loop, when it looked as if they were going to be cut off from the rest of the universe for their entire lives.  It was too deeply ingrained in each and every Agent not to give too much away. 

The first person to know Jack’s true name since he’d left Boeshane had been Ianto.  And Jack would never regret giving it to him.

He wondered what had brought his partner there, to Cardiff, and to Jack’s chosen home century.  Jack knew it wouldn’t be good; his partner had had a self-interest streak in him a mile wide, and while he’d been a good Agent he would often go off on tangents if he thought he could get away with it.  Nine times out of ten he had, and Jack’s superiors would turn a blind eye as long as the mission was a success.  Of course, Jack himself had been nearly as bad, and he cringed as he recalled things he’d done that he’d thought were good ideas at the time, but now, with the benefit of hindsight, were just plain wrong.  He’d gone into the Time Agency in order to find Gray, and had carried that hope with him; he’d come out embittered, amoral, and missing two years of his memories.

Then he wondered if the Time Agency was after him, and had sent his former partner to bring him in.  That would be just like them.   He didn’t know what concerned him the most: that he’d been discovered, or that his partner was after him for some other reason.  Either way, he’d deal with it accordingly.

“What can we expect?” Ianto asked, his soft voice pulling Jack from his thoughts.

Jack knew he had to get back on task.  “Like I said, he’s my ex-partner from the Time Agency.  He’s a compulsive liar and you cannot trust anything he says.  He’s deadly and will most likely be armed to the teeth.  I have no idea what he knows about this time, or about Torchwood, but you can pretty much assume he’s done his research.”

“So you don’t know if he’s here for you, or for some other purpose,” his mate said.

“No, I don’t.”

“Jesus, you know how to pick ‘em,” Owen said acerbically.

“Chances are,” Jack went on, “he’s here for some reason that will only benefit him.  Once we find that out, then we can get rid of him.”  At least he sincerely hoped so.  The last thing he wanted was his partner to hang around and cause trouble…because he most definitely would.

“And you were partnered with him?” Gwen asked incredulously.

“Our superiors thought I was the best one to keep him under control.”  That was true, in a way…but Jack always did wonder if it was because they’d wanted his partner to rub off on him, to bring Jack a bit closer to what they’d wanted him to be.  Most Agents were willing to do pretty much anything to accomplish their goals, and even though Jack had most definitely been corrupted there had still been some lines he would not cross.

The coordinates he’d been sent had been for a smallish club called the Bar Reunion…Jack thought that name was very apt.  They piled out of the SUV, Jack setting the deadbolt locks and turning on the alarm before gathering the others around him.   “All right; here’s what we’re gonna do.  I want Owen and Toshiko to go around the back.  Ianto, you and Gwen at the front.  I’m going in and confronting him.”

“You said he was dangerous,” Gwen argued.  “You shouldn’t go in there alone.”

“That’s exactly why I should,” Jack answered.  “He knows me.  I don’t think he’ll do anything too bad to me, because I’m certain he wants something.  He won’t pull anything until he gets what he wants.”  He was confident of that; if he could say one thing about his partner, he usually made certain he got what he was after first.  Afterward though was a different matter entirely… “You’re my back-up.  If he thinks I’m alone, he might be more open with me about what he wants.”

He turned to Toshiko.  “I also want you to do a comprehensive scan during our meeting.  He’ll have weapons where you least expect it, and I would prefer him not to get the drop on any of us if I can avoid it.  As I said, I’m pretty certain he won’t try anything until he gets what he wants, but let’s be careful anyway.”

“And what if he wants you?” Ianto asked solemnly.

Jack grinned.  “Then he’s going to be very disappointed.”  Then he sobered.  “Now, I don’t want any of you to be surprised at whatever happens in there.  Knowing him, he’ll either try to kiss me…or beat the crap out of me.  Quite possibly both if I’m lucky.”  He looked closely at Ianto.  “No overprotective gestures from you, Mr. Jones.”

“You’re my mate,” Ianto growled, his eyes changing to their dragon aspect.  “If he harms you, I will tear him apart.”

A warm feeling settled into Jack’s chest at Ianto’s words.  He’d never had anyone who was willing to protect him like that.  “Yes, you can eat him if he does.  But no matter what you see in there, you are not to come thundering in.  Got it?”  He pitched it as an order, knowing his Second would obey.

Ianto nodded, although he didn’t look happy.

“Let’s go and get this over with,” Jack said, sending them on their way.

He went in through the front doors, past his mate and Gwen who followed him, stopping just inside the club’s inner doors, their guns out and ready.  He didn’t pay them any more attention as he made his way into the deserted building; yes, he wasn’t surprised that his partner had cleared the place out for their meeting. 

The man himself was standing at the bar, and the moment Jack stepped into the club, he moved away from it and into the centre of the room, his fingers smoothly unsnapping the releases on the holsters tied down to his thighs.  A threatening move, but Jack knew his ex-partner wouldn’t be shooting him until he’d had his say.

It was a test.  One that Jack ignored by not doing the same with his Webley.

At almost the same moment, they began striding toward each other.  Jack had to admit he was enjoying the rush of adrenaline that had been building ever since he’d gotten that recording on his wrist strap, even though he knew damned well whatever his ex-partner had planned would most likely cause a great deal of mayhem. 

They stopped well within each other’s personal space.  Jack could smell the other man’s pheromones keenly, and knew that his old lover was aroused by the posturing.  At one time Jack might have been as well, but now he was just waiting, wanting to see what was going to happen next.

What happened next was a hand snapped out, grabbing Jack by the lapel of his greatcoat.  A pair of once familiar lips crashed against his own, roughly claiming Jack in a way that he’d once found a turn-on, but now he simply let his partner go to it, knowing it meant nothing to him anymore.

Hands groped him, running from his head then down his back and up again, and it did absolutely nothing for him.  His partner must have realized it, because he pulled away, a shark-like grin on his face.

Jack saw the right hook coming just in time to brace for it.

Still, his head snapped back, and he tasted blood on his tongue.  Smirking, Jack returned the blow, and it was no surprise that the man gave Jack a smirk of his own.

At that point the fight began in earnest.

A punch in the gut sent the air from Jack’s lungs in a whoosh.  His ex pulled back, laughing, and Jack took the opening, kicking out and sending the man to his knees. 

Jack grinned, he couldn’t help it.  It was the very act of letting go, of being able to strike out, that was amping up his adrenaline and making him want to continue the fight.  He wasn’t helpless anymore; he wasn’t at the mercy of an insane Time Lord and could defend himself against the blows he knew would be coming.  He reveled in it, in the knowledge that he was able to take care of himself again.

Even as John was attacking once more, Jack knew that his rediscovered ability to take care of himself didn’t mean that he wouldn’t let his mate look after him as well, but it was amazing to know he didn’t have to rely on Ianto to do it.

Their fight pretty much destroyed the club, but Jack didn’t care.  The sheer freedom of the movement of fists and feet and bodies was like a drug to him, even when his partner was the one beating the shit out of him.  The slide across the bar actually made Jack laugh with joy even as broken shot glasses scratched his face and embedded themselves in the wool of his coat.

Eventually all good things must come to an end, however. 

They ended up in a stalemate, each at the end of the other’s gun, grinning like loons as they faced each other down.  “Are you putting on weight?” his antagonist asked breathlessly.

“Are you losing your hair?” Jack returned, sounding just as out of breath.

“What are you wearing?”

Jack could ask the same, but said instead, falling back on old Time Agent protocol of introducing himself to a fellow Agent, “Captain Jack Harkness.  Note the stripes.” 

“Captain John Hart,” his partner returned. “Note the sarcasm.”

Nothing had changed.Jack wasn’t sure how he felt about that, although it made anticipating his partner’s – John’s – movements a tad better.“Hey, I worked my way up through the ranks,” he couldn’t help but say, caught up in the excitement.




“And I’m sure the ranks were very grateful,” Hart answered.  “I could use a drink.”

And just like that, the tension was gone.  “I thought you’d never ask.”  Jack didn’t much drink anymore, but he knew his ex-partner, and he doubted the man would get down to business without being well lubricated first.

Together they made their way toward the demolished bar.  Hart practically slammed his gun down on it and then reached over, pulling a bottle up and handing it to Jack.  Taking another one, he promptly tore the spout off with his teeth and began to chug it greedily.

Jack just stared, wondering how Hart had managed to keep his original liver…but then, maybe he hadn’t.“So,” he said rhetorically, “how was rehab?”    Rehab was a bit different in the future than it was now, but it had obviously been a failure.




Hart stopped drinking, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and grinning. “Rehabs…plural.”

Jack raised an eyebrow in enquiry.  “Drink…drugs…sex…”

“And murder.”

 _Oh_ _shit_ …

“You went to murder rehab?” Jack didn’t like the sound of that, but he kept his question light, even adding in a small chuckle.  He didn’t want to tip his ex off as to how much he’d actually changed.

“I know,” Hart rolled his eyes.  “The odd kill…who does it hurt?”

 _The victims’ families, for one._ But Jack didn’t say that aloud.  Instead, he asked, “You clean now?” knowing the answer was a resounding no, but having to anyway.

“Kicked everything,” Hart said, proudly.  “Living like a priest.”

 Jack inwardly scoffed at that, but didn’t let how he was feeling show.  He set his bottle down, needing to start getting some answers.   “So, how’s the Time Agency?” He made is sound like an innocent question, but he had to know if he’d been found out. 

Hart’s face fell.  “You haven’t heard then.”  At Jack’s head shake, he said, “It’s shut down.”

Jack was shocked.  That was the last thing he’d been expecting.  “You’re kidding.”

But he could see that his former partner wasn’t.  And yet, there was something in his eyes that told Jack there was a story there, and that he wasn’t likely to be getting it.  “There are only seven of us left.”

What could have happened?  Jack couldn’t believe it, and yet for once he could tell the man next to him was telling the truth.  The Time Agency was gone…and however it had happened, Jack thought it was for the best.  In fact, he would have said “Good riddance!” if he didn’t want to risk some sort of reaction from Hart.

What passed for a tender look crossed Hart’s face.  “I’ve missed you.  It hadn’t been the same without you.”  He leaned forward, and Jack knew exactly what he meant to do.

He pulled back.  “I want you off my territory.”

Outrage replaced the soft expression.  “What?”

“You heard me.”   He turned away, although he wasn’t foolish enough to put his back to his rather dangerous companion.

“Time was,” Hart spat, “you couldn’t get enough of me on your ‘territory’.”

“Things change,” Jack said.

Hart’s eyes narrowed.With the speed that Jack knew he had under the somewhat lazy exterior, he grabbed his gun and fired twice, once toward the front of the club, and once toward the back.“All right!” he shouted.“Everybody out!”




Jack’s heart pounded.  He didn’t breathe until his entire team showed themselves…and he could see that Hart’s bullets had missed everyone.

They came in, their guns up and ready.  Jack met his mate’s eye as Ianto edged forward, his body partially in front of Gwen’s in an effort to cover her in case Hart shot again.  The dragon was practically expressionless, which Jack knew from experience wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It wasn’t good, either, but it wasn’t like he was going to go dragon and tear Hart into little pieces.

Owen was covering Toshiko as well, and they both looked cool and professional and Jack was proud of each and every one of them.  They’d stayed outside until forced to come in, and they’d trusted him to handle their visitor by himself.

“Everything all right, Sir?” Ianto asked cautiously.

“Everything’s fine,” Jack answered, his smile saying he was going to get back at the dragon later for calling him ‘Sir’. 

“You’ve got a team!” Hart sounded inordinately pleased by that notion.  “How sweet!  And how very pretty!  No blonde though.  You need a blonde.”

Owen rolled his eyes.  “He’s worse than you, Harkness.”

“Do you have a team name?” Hart was practically bouncing.  “I love team names!  Go on, what is it?”

“Torchwood,” Jack answered sharply.

Hart seemed to stop in mid-bounce.  An odd expression crossed his features, but was gone faster than Jack could react.  “Not Excalibur?  Blizzard? Bikini Cops?”  He pulled a pout that made him look as if someone had just kicked his puppy.  “No?  Torchwood?”  He sighed.  “Oh dear…”

Even as much as Jack wanted to force the information out of him.

He would have to wait.  And, despite what Ianto might think, he did have a lot of patience. 

He just wasn’t about to trust Hart as far as he could throw him.


	4. Chapter 4

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

Ianto immediately disliked the self-named John Hart.

And no, it wasn’t because the man had kissed his mate, nor because the man had obviously felt the need to practically paw at Jack…although seeing that had caused a growl to rise within him that had been hard to silence.  He trusted Jack completely to take care of himself in those circumstances, and Ianto was well aware of how he felt about his former partner.  Besides, if he got mad every time Jack kissed someone or someone kissed Jack, he’d be perpetually pissed off.

It also wasn’t because Hart dared punch Jack.Yes, it had taken all of Ianto’s self- control not to go to his mate’s aid, but the dragon did know that Jack could hold his own in a fight.  It bothered him a little that Jack seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much – and that was something he’d be certain to ask about later, and in private – however Jack had quickly looked as if he’d gained the upper hand.   It had still been hard to simply stand there and watch.




The one time he hadn’t felt like running to the rescue was when the two men had been in that stalemate, with guns pointed at each other.  Yes, he hated Jack dying, but at the same time Ianto knew his mate would come back.  Hart, of course, would not.

Ianto was pretty certain he didn’t feel at all bad about that.

His sensitive dragon hearing caught their conversation as they leant against the bar.  Ianto was relieved about the Time Agency; there had been a small part of him that had worried that, someday, someone would come after Jack for leaving after they’d wiped his memories.  If that had happened, then Ianto would have protected his mate from being taken, even if it had meant his life.  But now, it looked as if he would never have to do that, and Ianto was grateful that Hart had brought that important piece of information, even if the man put Ianto’s teeth on edge.

Of course, Jack had said they couldn’t trust anything Hart said.  The man could very well be lying about that, to lull them into a false sense of security.

Which made Ianto feel even more paranoid about their ‘visitor’.

He certainly didn’t like the notion of something called ‘murder rehab’, not at all.  





Ianto knew that Jack would keep his eye on Hart, but he would also do the same.  No one was going to hurt his family.

The gun shots, when they came, hadn’t really surprised Ianto all that much.He knew Jack’s slightly advanced human senses, and it had been a safe bet that Hart had the same.He’d deliberately put himself between Gwen and any harm, knowing that, even if he was shot, the bullets really wouldn’t do too much damage to him.He might not like Gwen very much, but he’d still protect her. It was his duty, after all.  He’d Named her, and he would keep that vow.




His first impression of Hart from a distance didn’t hold up under closer scrutiny, either.  There was just something about the man…something that felt slimy against Ianto’s skin and scales.  A small voice in the back of his mind – one that sounded very much like his mother’s – was telling him to trust this, to trust this feeling, and Ianto listened. 

“Toshiko Sato,” Jack introduced them, “Owen Harper…Gwen Cooper…and my Second in Command, Ianto Jones.”

The dragon kept his gun up, his arms not wavering.  He was gratified to see that the others were doing the same. 

“Captain John Hart,” the man said, nodding to each in turn.  He’d seemed to have lost the slightly manic tone he’d had before, his expression turning sombre.

“What are you doing here?” Jack demanded, his posture suddenly stiff.

“Down to business,” Hart congratulated.  “I like that.”  He raised his arm, revealing a vortex manipulator.

“It’s not the same as yours, Jack,” Toshiko commented, her eyes on the wrist strap.

“It’s smaller,” Jack answered.

“But lasts so much longer,” Hart snarked, rolling his eyes.  “Get two Time Agents in the same room and it’s all about the size of the wrist strap.”

The innuendo was obvious, and Ianto was proud of his team for not rising to the bait.

Ianto thought it didn’t look much like a bomb, but then it was from the future…who knew what sort of advanced technology it had been constructed from?

“Don’t like the sound of that,” Owen muttered.

“Three canisters,” Hart replied.  “Contents beyond toxic, swallowed up in a Rift storm.”

“And they ended up here,” Toshiko posited. 

“Bingo,” Hart agreed.  “That’s the downside of your city being built on a Rift in space and time.  Now, left to their own devices, the radiation will break down the canisters and then infect the people, and the planet.  They need to be neutralized.”

Ianto could tell, by the look on Jack’s face, that he was a bit skeptical of Hart’s story, which made the dragon even less willing to believe it.  He kept his gun up; he wasn’t about to risk anyone getting hurt by anything Hart did, even though the ex-Time Agent apparently was letting his guard down.  And no, he didn’t trust that, either.

Toshiko and Owen still had their weapons ready, but Gwen had lowered hers, and he knew he’d have to talk to her about that at some point.Jack had warned them about Hart, had explained that the man was dangerous, and not to trust him.Even at ease Hart oozed something that set the dragon’s instincts buzzing.




The hologram vanished, and Hart closed his wrist strap. 

“What’s in it for you?” Jack asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Dying woman’s wish,” Hart shrugged. 

Jack made a scoffing noise.  Ianto was glad of that, because even though he’d just met the man, he didn’t believe for one minute that Hart would go out of his way to respect a death request.

And it was obvious that Hart knew Jack didn’t believe him.

“Problem is,” he continued, as if it didn’t matter, “I don’t know where they are.  I’m hoping local knowledge can help.” 

Hart sounded so sincere…perhaps too sincere.  Ianto couldn’t kick the notion that there was something else, something that Hart was keeping back, and that this so-called bombs were some sort of…well, he didn’t know what. 

“I can run a citywide scan,” Toshiko said.  “Look for any radiation surges and cross-reference that with Rift activity for the specified time period.”

“You must be the beauty and the brains of this outfit,” Hart leered at her. 

Toshiko let it just roll off her without reacting, which sent Hart into a pout.  It wasn’t at all an effective one, either.

“See,” he said, “it’s an easy job.”

Jack was frowning.  “We do this, and then you’re gone.  Immediately.”

Hart didn’t look happy.  “Fine, if that’s the way you want it.”

“It is.”

A sudden grin broke out over the man’s face.“Does this mean I get to see your house?”

 




**********

 

“Letting that man into the Hub is a really bad idea,” Gwen said.

Ianto couldn’t help but agree with her.

The four of them were riding back to the Hub in the SUV; Jack had wrestled Hart into a taxi, saying they would meet them back at the Hub.  Jack had taken Ianto aside, giving him specific instructions for their arrival.

Ianto hadn’t wanted to leave Jack alone with Hart, but they all wouldn’t have fit in the SUV.  He’d tried to convince Jack to let him come with them, but Jack had said that he could handle Hart just fine on his own.  Ianto didn’t want to doubt his mate…but then, he did trust Jack. 

It was John Hart that he didn’t trust.

That was why Ianto made certain to confiscate Hart’s vortex manipulator before they’d left the two men at the bar.

“We don’t have much choice,” he answered, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.  “Jack’s in charge.”

“We don’t know anything about this Hart character,” Gwen said. 

“We know enough,” Owen said.  “We know he’s some sort of nutcase.”

“Which is enough for me,” Toshiko added. 

“We know he can’t be trusted,” Ianto said.  “He’s a liar…which is fairly obvious.”

“Then you don’t believe his story then?”  Gwen asked.

“I don’t, no.”

“But if there’s a bare chance he’s telling the truth –“

“Which is why we’re helping him,” the dragon said.  “We simply can’t take a risk.”  He didn’t want his adopted home to suffer because they’d been wrong.

“I say we chuck his arse into a cell then go after these canisters ourselves,” Owen suggested, somewhat gleefully.

“I like that idea,” Toshiko agreed.

Ianto did, as well.

“We don’t have any proof he’s actually lying,” Gwen argued.   “Locking him up won’t solve anything.”

“And yet you don’t trust him enough to let him into the Hub,” Toshiko pointed out. 

“Of course I don’t trust him,” the ex-copper said.  “But I just don’t see that keeping Hart prisoner will make any difference.”

“It’s up to Jack,” Ianto said.  “If he says we’re to help Hart get these canisters and then send him on his way, then that’s what we do.”

“Yeah, well Jack left us,” Gwen groused.  “Seems to me he lost his right to lead the team when he took off.”

Ianto found himself grinding his teeth.“Jack will always be our leader, even long after you’re dead and dust, Gwen.  And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll keep following him until the day comes when he wants to put Torchwood behind him for good.”  _Even after,_ he didn’t add.




“I’m with you, Ianto,” Toshiko said, leaning up from the back seat and squeezing his shoulder.  “Jack’s our leader.  There will never be anyone else.”

“Yeah,” Owen replied.  “I’ll follow Jack – and you – until you put me in the ground…or the morgue, as the case may be.”

Ianto felt a warmth grow in his chest at their words.  They really were true friends, and he was glad to know them.  “Thank you both.”

“Well don’t let it go to your head, Dragon Boy, cause I’m not about to stop giving the pair of you shit.”

The dragon laughed.  “The day you stop being a prat, Owen, is the day I start looking for the alien influencing you.”

“Damn right.”

“I don’t get you both,” Gwen exclaimed.  “Jack abandoned us, and Ianto…isn’t human.  And yet you’re both willing to let them be in charge?”

“Yes, you _don’t_ understand,” Toshiko said.  “You don’t understand loyalty and friendship and honor.  When you do that, then you’ll realize just what it means to be in Torchwood, and to follow Jack and Ianto.”

Gwen was silent, and Ianto hoped that she was digesting what she’d been told.  Perhaps it was naïve of him, but he did hold out some hope for her.  During Jack’s absence she’d proven to be a competent field agent, and her engagement to Rhys had shown him a side of her he hadn’t known existed: that of loving partner.  After her affair with Owen, the dragon had doubted that would ever be the case.

He honestly didn’t care how Gwen felt about him.  To Ianto, the only one who mattered was Jack…and Toshiko and Owen after that.  One day she might come around, and on that day his opinion would change.  But, until then, she could say what she wanted, as long as it wasn’t against Jack or his friends.

They made the rest of the trip to the Hub in silence, and only once they’d pulled into the underground car park did he speak again.  “First, we’ll scan him as he comes into the Hub.  Toshiko, I want you and Owen to take comprehensive readings on him and anything he happens to have on him.  Gwen, you’re with me.  I want you to use a portable scanner and check him carefully for any weapons.  Oh, and Tosh…make certain you have him in scanner range at all times.  I don’t want him sneaking around the Hub.  There’s no telling what he’d get into.”

There were murmurs of agreement, and they all headed into the Hub.

Ianto went to the kitchen, grabbing one of the silver serving trays that he’d brought up from his hoard.  From what Jack had said, Hart would be heavily armed, and the dragon doubted he would have enough hands to hold everything they managed to find.  Plus it never hurt to be prepared.

Jack had said he would bring Hart in on the invisible lift, and it was from that direction that the dragon got the first faint tingle in his mind that announced his mate’s arrival.  He made his way to the lift, but not before stopping heading into Jack’s office and locking Hart’s wrist strap into the Secure Archives, not wanting their ‘visitor’ to get it back before they were ready.

The clunking of the lift mechanism officially announced Jack and Hart’s entrance.  Ianto stood waiting, the tray behind his back, and Gwen joined him, her scanner ready.  He spared her a look, and then turned his eyes upward, to the descending lift.

“It’s roomy,” he heard Hart say.  “I’ll give you that.  Although your interior decorating has a lot to be desired.  What is this…sewer chic?”

The lift stone settled into its base.  Jack stepped off, turning to glare at Hart, who made to step down…and then Jack’s hand shot up, pushing him back.  “Weapons.”

Hart sighed, rolling his eyes.  Ianto flipped the tray around, holding it in both hands.  Something about him earned a leer from the ex-Time Agent, and the dragon ignored it.

He unsnapped the safety catches on his holsters, removing the guns and handing them to Jack.  Jack in turn placed them on the silver tray, giving Ianto a slight wink. 

The katana was next, and Ianto had to admit that he wouldn’t have minded getting a closer look at the sword.  He wondered where Hart had gotten it, and if it was authentic. 

Jack turned back to Hart, and the innocent look the man had on his face wouldn’t have fooled a baby.  Jack held his hand out, waiting. 

“And the rest.”  Jack didn’t say it as a question, either.

“You know me,” Hart grinned.  “I’m a two-weapon kinda guy.”  He winked broadly.

Like Ianto was going to believe that.

“One pistol strapped to each leg,” Gwen reported, her eyes on her scanner, “laser knife below left elbow, seventeen small explosive charges in the linings of his coat…”

As she rattled off the various devices on Hart’s person, Jack removed them and set them on Ianto’s tray.  The dragon was glad that he was a bit above human-level strength; the pile was getting a bit heavy. 

Once they were done, Hart simply shrugged.  “They must have slipped my mind.”

“Yeah, right.”  Jack turned to Ianto.  “Let’s lock those down and then we’ll all meet in the boardroom and come up with a plan.”  He stepped away from the lift, letting Hart off.

Toshiko and Owen had joined them, their own scans obviously complete. Owen had his gun out, and Toshiko was holding another scanner.  “Come on then,” the medic growled, motioning with his weapon.   “I’d hate to have to shoot you just to patch you up.”

“Nice of you to show me your gun,” Hart leered.  “I’d show you mine, but Eye Candy here wants to keep them all to himself.”

_Eye Candy?_

Oh gods and goddesses and Great Dragons…

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

“Jack.”

Jack turned at Ianto’s call.  They were in his office, and the rather large collection of weapons was on his desk, waiting to be put away. 

Ianto was standing by the safe, the door open, a frown on his face.  He didn’t look happy, which didn’t surprise Jack at all; he knew his mate had seen what had occurred at the bar, and he’d have serious issues with Hart’s presence in the Hub.  Not that Jack blamed him; he knew his former partner very well, and it was dangerous just to breathe the same oxygen that Hart did, out of concern for airborne poisons.  “I know what you’re going to say,” he answered.  “And no, I don’t trust him one bit.  But if there’s just a small chance that he’d being honest for one of the few times since I’d met him…”

“I understand that,” the dragon said.  “We can’t allow even the possibility that there really are some forms of bomb out there.  But I don’t see why we can’t put him in a cell for the duration of our search.  We certainly don’t need him to help us, and I don’t trust him not to hurt anyone.  I also don’t’ trust him not to use the bombs himself.”

Ianto might have just met Hart, but Jack knew he had a very valid point.  “Honestly?  We put him in a cell, and I can guarantee he’ll break out on his own, and it doesn’t matter what our security is like.  It would be better to keep him fully in sight than leave him here, alone.  So taking him with us is really the only option.”

The dragon regarded him closely, then nodded.“You do know him best.But, he knows you, even though it’s been over one hundred years since you’ve last worked with him.Which is why I think I should be the one to watch him, if we decide to split up to make the hunt go faster.”




Jack shook his head.  “That’s precisely the reason why I should be the one to partner with him, because he does know me, and he knows what I’m capable of.  I’ve also changed a lot since then, and he doesn’t know about my immortality –“

“And he doesn’t know I’m a dragon,” Ianto said.  “He won’t be expecting me to be tougher than I look.  Plus, I can distract him…flirt a bit…he already has his eye on me.  Perhaps I can distract him enough to get something out of him.”

Ianto was the logical choice.  Any of the others would, of course, be wary of Hart, but the dragon was the one who would be able to more easily hold his own against any of Hart’s tricks.  It was just the idea that Ianto would be with his very dangerous ex-partner, and he didn’t want to take the chance that anything could happen…

Jack sighed.  He knew he’d be doing it Ianto’s way, since he also knew he didn’t dare leave Hart alone in the Hub, even locked down in a cell.  His getting free and getting his hands on things he shouldn’t was a very real danger.

As real a danger as letting the man anywhere near his mate.

“Okay,” Jack capitulated.  “But there are a few ground rules, okay?”

Ianto nodded gravely.  “You know him; and I trust you.”

Jack smiled quietly.  “And I trust you to take a chunk of out his ass if he so much as touches you.”

The dragon looked innocent, which was somewhat ruined by the wink that he threw in Jack’s direction. 

“Okay, there are actually three rules.”  Jack ticked them off on his fingers.  “First one:  don’t believe anything he says…which I think is somewhat obvious.”  Ianto nodded.  “The second one is always keep him in front of you.  You’re tough, and he doesn’t know where to hit you to do the most damage, but he could get lucky.  And three…never let him kiss you.”

Ianto’s nose wrinkled in disgust.  “Not hardly.  Although I could make the same warning to you.”

Jack instantly felt guilty.  “What happened back at the bar –“

“Jack,” Ianto stepped up to him, resting a hand on his chest, “it’s all right.  Hart kissed you; you didn’t kiss him.  But you should follow your own advice, you know; it’s obvious he wants you, and you should watch yourself as much as you watch out for us.  He could easily pull something on you, as he could on the rest of us.  And, to be honest…I’m not sure it would be a good idea to let him know you can’t die.  If I don’t trust him with everyone’s safety, then I certainly don’t trust him with that particular secret.”

Of course, Ianto was speaking sense.  Jack had been so concerned for his team that he hadn’t even considered his own personal safety, knowing that he would snap back from anything that might be thrown his way.  And yes, letting Hart in on his immortality could be a costly mistake, one that Jack knew he couldn’t afford to make.  While he didn’t know what his former partner would do with that information, Jack wasn’t about to take the risk. 

“You’re right,” he admitted.  “I hadn’t planned on telling him anyway, but he could easily find out if he tried to kill me.”

“And I heard that crack about ‘murder rehab’.  There’s such a thing in the future?”

Jack nodded.  “Rehabilitation is different in the future than it is here.  Every possible step is taken to cure someone before they’re proclaimed too dangerous to let out into society.  And, of course, some do manage to slip through and bluff the system.”  He’d seen the difference between the past and the future forms of reform, and he couldn’t honestly say either one was better than the other.  Neither seemed to have the best success rate, even though in the future they were a little less inhumane about their methods.  And in the time Jack was from they let criminals get away with a bit more than they did in the 21st Century.

“Let’s get these weapons locked up,” Ianto said gathering up the tray and heading back over to the safe.  “I’m not sure leaving the team alone with Hart is such a good idea, even if Owen is inclined to shoot him.”

“You’re right.”  Jack grabbed Ianto by the arm, pulling him to a stop.  He leaned over the tray and brushed a barely-there kiss across his mate’s lips.  “I don’t have to tell you to be careful, do I?”

“Only if you be careful, too,” the dragon smirked.

“Deal.”  Jack began stacking the confiscated weapons into the safe, standing the katana up next to the sword that Ianto had given Jack; the sword that Ianto had used to kill Lisa. 

He shivered and hoped it wasn’t some sort of omen…not that he actually believed in omens.

 

**********

 

They joined the rest of the team and Hart in the boardroom, the atmosphere so thick Jack knew he could have cut it with a laser scalpel.  Toshiko was the only one actually doing anything; she was seated, her fingers flying over the keyboard of her computer, frowning in concentration.

Owen had his gun out and lying on the tabletop, obviously watching John Hart…who didn’t seem at all bothered by the scrutiny.  His feet were up on the table, and he was leaning back in his chair, looking extremely bored with it all.  But Jack could make out the tells in his former partner: the slightly stiff set of his shoulders, and the sharpness in his gaze.  Other than that he was the perfect model of uncaring looseness, and Jack wanted nothing more than to shake that up.

Gwen sat next to Owen, and she was also watching Hart like a hawk.  Her gaze was calculating, and Jack wondered just what she was seeing.  He might not agree with a lot that Gwen did, but she could be discerning when she wanted to be…as long as it didn’t have anything to do with one of her teammates, of course.  Then she could be blinkered, and to Jack that just didn’t make any sense.  He would be interested in hearing what she might have to say about their unwanted ‘guest’.

Ianto took his customary seat next to Jack’s but Jack himself didn’t sit; he stood next to the screen in the far wall, his arms crossed.  “What have you found, Toshiko?” he asked, getting things started.

His technician looked up from her terminal.  “Seven hours ago,” she reported, “we logged in a very minor surge of Rift energy in three different locations.”  She touched a control on her keyboard, and a map of the city came up on the viewscreen.  Three glowing red dots appeared on the map: one north, one west, and one obviously in the dock area of town.

Ianto frowned; Jack was too familiar with the dragon, and knew he was second-guessing himself about not sensing the Rift spikes.  However, if Jack was right they’d just been getting into Cardiff from Ddraig Llyn at that point, and if they really were minor spikes then Ianto could very well have missed them. 

“Six of us,” Hart spoke up, his feet coming down off the tabletop, “three locations.  Two to each location."

Jack glared at him.“I’m in charge here,” he snapped.“I give the orders.”Ianto had called it, them splitting up to handle separate targets.It had made sense then, but he wasn’t about to give Hart the satisfaction of seemingly bending to his whim quite so easily.




“Then give some, big boy!”  Hart rolled his eyes.

“There’s something else,” Toshiko butted into their posturing.  “If these canisters are radioactive, then why haven’t I picked up any radiation surges?”

Hart shrugged.  “The canisters could be holding integrity at the moment.  But trust me…that won’t last.”

He seemed quite nonchalant about it, but Jack couldn’t help but wonder if there was any radiation involved at all.  Hart had made such a big deal about the canisters being deadly, and yet there wasn’t a sign of that danger he’d tried to use to motivate them.  It was one more notch against Hart’s story, but it wasn’t enough to make him call the man a complete liar.

“John’s right,” Gwen said, giving the man a small smile.  “Sorry…do you prefer John, or Captain?”

“With eyes like yours,” Hart leered, “you can call me Vera.  I won’t complain.”

What was Gwen doing? 

Jack opened his mouth to call her down, but she spoke right over him.  “Tosh and Owen can take the north; Jack and Ianto, the west.  Vera and I can take the docks.”

Hart made a kissing gesture in her direction, and Gwen practically batted her eyelashes at him. 

“As much as I appreciate the suggestion, Gwen,” Jack said sharply, “you are not in charge of this team.  I am.  It’s my decision to make who teams up with whom…if there’s any splitting up at all.”

He could see Hart taking everything in, and Jack swore silently.  His ex-partner was making mental notes of the weaknesses within the team, possibly to exploit for later.  This was what he’d been hoping to avoid: to give Hart any ammunition to work with, to keep him from setting any wedges within his family.

But then, Jack considered that he might have been a bit naïve that Gwen would just fall into line.  She was an opinionated woman, and in ways he’d completely forgotten how to deal with her.  It had been well over a year since he’d last seen her, and while Ianto had said she’d seemed to have integrated with the team over the four months between Jack leaving with the Doctor and Saxon taking over, he should have seen that she’d push back against his authority. 

But he had forgotten, and had had it thrown back up in his face twice so far since he’d come back.  This was the third, and as far as Jack was concerned, it was going to be the last.

His eyes scanned the group.  Owen was actually stroking his handgun, and Jack would have normally made an innuendo-laden comment about the action, but kept it to himself.  His medic was watching Hart as if he was looking at something under a microscope, distrust written all over him.  He thought back to his conversation with Ianto in his office, and realized that, while Owen wouldn’t let Hart get away with shit, he would be too tempted to give in to needling the man…and that could give Hart an opening into Owen’s mental processes that Jack didn’t want to give him. 

Toshiko seemed calm and collected, waiting for Jack to tell them what to do.  She and Ianto made the best team at the table, but Jack knew that he would split them up this time.  Ianto had been correct; the dragon was the best fit to watch Hart, and that meant teaming them together.

“All right,” he said, resting his hands on the table and leaning forward, “splitting up seems our best option, but the teams are going to be a bit different.  Owen,” he turned toward the medic, “you and Gwen will take the north.”  Gwen looked as if she was going to argue, but Jack simply glared at her.  “Toshiko, you and I will head west.  Ianto, you take Hart and head toward the docks.”  The open spaces would give the dragon the best chance to transform if he needed to.

“Me and Eye Candy,” Hart purred.  “It must be my lucky day.”

Ianto simply rolled his eyes, not rising to the bait, which made Jack’s decision that much easier to deal with. 

“I can program some PDA’s to help in the search,” Toshiko volunteered.  “Since we don’t have any idea beyond general location as to where the canisters are.”

“Good idea,” Jack agreed.  “How long will it take?”

She shrugged.  “A couple of minutes.”

 “Get on that.” 

Toshiko nodded, getting up from the table and leaving the room. 

“Captain Hart,” Ianto said coolly, standing.  “Shall we go?”

Hart practically bounced to his feet.  “I’m all yours,” he answered, almost gleefully. 

Ianto motioned him ahead, not answering the comment.  But Jack could see the suspicion coming off of his mate in waves, and knew that Ianto could handle Hart, if anyone could.

“C’mon, Cooper,” Owen said, getting up and holstering his gun.  “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Just a second,” she answered, her eyes not leaving Jack’s.

He really shouldn’t have been surprised that Gwen would try to get the last word.

Once Owen was gone, Gwen put her hands on her hips and glared.  “I was the logical choice to go with Hart,” she argued hotly.  “You weren’t in here to watch him flirt with me.  I could have gotten him to open up to me.”

 “No, Gwen,” he said.  “He would have eaten you alive.  He would have ditched you at the first opportunity, and chances are his methods would have been fatal.”

“And you think Ianto can handle him?” Gwen shorted.

“I know he can.  Hart doesn’t know about him, doesn’t know that Ianto is a dragon.  He’s tough and very difficult to kill, plus Hart was flirting with him as well…but then, he was flirting with everyone, so that doesn’t make one bit of difference in this situation.  No, Ianto has the best chance of coming out of any confrontation with Hart relatively unscathed, and I honestly think he’ll be able to get information out of him better than anyone else could.”  He didn’t want to think that there’d be any sort of dust-up between his mate and ex-partner, but Jack wasn’t ignorant of Hart’s failings.  It was a good chance he was lying about the canisters, and Jack was willing to bet whatever immortality he had that, once Hart and Ianto found that first canister, that Hart would try to dump his ‘companion’.

“You have done nothing but question my decisions since I got back,” he went on, “that will now stop.  I am in charge, and that isn’t going to change.  What you did in front of Hart was dangerous, and it could have played into his hands.  Make no mistake, Gwen…that man is deadly.  He will not hesitate to kill to get what he wants.  And, right now, he wants those canisters, no matter what’s inside them.  Pairing you with Owen is the best chance to save your life.”

Gwen’s eyes had widened as she processed what Jack was telling her…which, in Jack’s opinion, was a good thing.  Gwen was headstrong, and thought she was in the right.  She needed someone to show her that she wasn’t, and quite honestly he didn’t want to get her killed to prove that point. 

“Now,” he finished, “go with Owen and see if you can find that canister.  The sooner we get them all, the sooner we can finish the rest of this conversation.  Because, don’t think I’m going to let you get away with questioning me in front of a possible enemy combatant.  That was more shades of wrong than I can even list.” 

Jack didn’t give her a chance to respond.  He turned and left the conference room, hoping to catch up with his mate before the mission separated them.

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

“This is gonna take forever,” Hart grumbled, frustrated as he pulled open one of the shipping containers that were stacked four tall across the shipyard.

Ianto didn’t even bother to hide the eye-rolling.  “That’s why Jack said you could have your wrist strap back,” he pointed out. “So you could actually use its scanning function to make our search easier.”

He hadn’t agreed with giving the manipulator back to Hart, but Jack had pointed out that the ex-Time Agent could use it in conjunction with the scanner that Toshiko had cobbled together, in order to find the containers quickly.   Ianto supposed it was a matter of trust in Ianto’s abilities as well; Jack thinking that he could handle whatever Hart threw at him.

The dragon didn’t feel that way, though.  In fact, he felt distinctly out of his depth, because if Hart chose to use the thing to escape, there wasn’t a damned thing Ianto could do about it.

The only thing that kept him from removing the wrist strap once more was the fact that Hart wouldn’t go anywhere without the canisters…whatever was in them.  Cluster bombs or something else entirely, it was obvious that Hart wanted them, and he wouldn’t run off until they were found.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Hart answered blithely, practically dancing to the next container down.

“I thought these had to be found quickly?” Ianto demanded, using his own scanner to try to pinpoint the location of the canister.  There was a faint signal, and Ianto wondered just how effective the device would be with all this metal around them.

“Well, yeah, but who says we can’t enjoy ourselves while on the hunt?”  Hart sidled up to Ianto, smiling seductively.  “And I’d certainly love to enjoy myself with you.”

“Mind on the job,” the dragon sighed. 

“What sort of reward do I get if I’m good?"

Ianto smiled sharply at him.  “I’ll kill you quickly?”




Hart leered.  “Why, Eye Candy…you say the sweetest things.”

“My name is Ianto.  I suggest you use it.”

“Ianto is boring.  Eye Candy tells it like it is.”

The dragon was beginning to regret talking Jack into letting him partner with Hart.  The man was seriously getting on his nerves.  “It’s also objectifying and demeaning.”

“You can objectify and demean me anytime!”

Ianto shook his head.  This was old already; he’d had to suffer through Hart’s advances on the trip there, even having to pull the ex-Time Agent’s hand away from this thigh at one point, and was surprised he hadn’t crashed his car.  He’d threatened to cut Hart’s hand off if he touched him again, and sickeningly Hart had seemed to have been even more turned on by that.

Hart leaving couldn’t happen too soon.

Ianto used the scanner again, and the signal seemed stronger the next aisle over, and so he headed in that direction.  Hart followed him like a puppy, not even bothering to help out. 

“He won’t stay, you know.”

Surprised by the sudden serious tone in Hart’s voice, Ianto stopped and turned to look at him.  “Excuse me?”

“Your boss.  He won’t stay here, not when he has the entire universe to travel in.”

“You think you know him?” Ianto asked, barely hiding his smirk.

“I spent a lot of time with him.  Five years is enough to get to know anyone.”

He’d heard about the time loop incident from Jack, and so didn’t have to question Hart’s comment.  “Then I would guess eight years means I know him even better?”  Ianto favored him with a raised eyebrow.

Hart looked a little surprised by the response.  “I’m just saying you can’t trust him.  There are things you don’t know about him that I do –“

“Really?   Care to prove that?”  Ianto hadn’t meant to get into a pissing contest with the man, but this conversation was rubbing him the wrong way.

Hart was looking at him closely, as if trying to get into his head.  Ianto met his eyes squarely, daring him to continue on with this, and hoping Hart would see that he would lose if he did. 

“It’s just, once a conman…always a conman,” he finally said.

“Yes, I know all about Jack’s conman past,” Ianto said, hand-waving it away.  “I know about where he came from, about his family…even his real name, which I’m certain he never told you.  So don’t think you can get me to think badly of him, because it won’t work.”

Hart reared back, as if Ianto had punched him.  “Well,” he gasped slightly, “it seems I might have misinterpreted things.”

“I should say you have.  Now, let’s find that canister and get back to the Hub.  I want you out of here as soon as possible.”

With that, Ianto stalked away, the scanner out and his eyes firmly on it.Hart had tried to rile him up, and in a way it had worked; but not in the way the ex-Time Agent had thought.It had only made him angry at Hart for daring to get him to turn away from Jack, from the mate that Ianto loved more than anything.Not that Hart knew about that part of their relationship, unless he’d somehow guessed it, which was possible when considering that a con artist would be able to read people in order to get a handle on them.But he and Jack had been careful about showing that sort of connection in front of Hart, out of a need to keep their closeness secret.  Hart might have tried to use that against them.




Of course – and Ianto cursed himself about it – he’d just shown Hart that he and Jack were very close, by that little display of one-upmanship. 

_Damnit._

The signal was a bit stronger, and Ianto followed it through the rows of shipping containers, angry at himself for giving Hart any sort of look into his and Jack’s relationship.  He’d sworn to himself that he wouldn’t hand over any sort of ammunition to the man, and yet he had.  He felt like a fool.

“Down this way,” Hart said, his vortex manipulator finally open and working.  Ianto just wanted this over with, and was glad that Hart seemed to finally be cooperating.

Ianto followed, wanting to make certain that Hart was in front of him.  The scanner was reading the same, so he was content to let Hart move ahead, until he stopped in front of a red-painted shipping container.  He pulled the sliding bolt, throwing one of the doors open.  “It’s here,” Hart called, making his way inside.

The interior of the container was almost empty, but for a bit of trash and a broken packing crate.  In the centre of the floor sat a silver canister that was a twin to the one that Hart had showed them with his vortex manipulator.  Hart was already picking it up when Ianto stepped into the metal container.

“It’s not leaking or anything,” Hart reported, flipping it negligently in one hand. 

Ianto stepped closer.  “Give that to me.”  He didn’t trust Hart with the thing; while he didn’t think the man would open it, there was something about him keeping what might be a dangerous weapon on his person that Ianto didn’t care for.

He held out his hand for it, and Hart obliged, passing the canister over.  It was cold in Ianto’s fist, and he slid it into his jacket pocket.  “Let’s go,” he motioned for Hart to precede him out of the shipping container.

Hart shrugged, then headed past Ianto toward the entrance.  As he came up next to him, however, Hart moved fluidly, and before Ianto had a chance to react, his body had been pushed up against the wall of the container, pinned there by Hart’s arm across his throat, and the ex-Time Agent was leaning in to kiss him.

Ianto reacted quickly, but not before Hart managed to brush his lips against his.  He used his slightly superior strength to push the man away, wiping his mouth with his jacket sleeve.  “What the –“  he managed to spit out, but not before a wave of dizziness crested over him.

“Just celebrating,” Hart laughed, sauntering closer, a wicked grin on his face.  “The 21st Century is so frigid!”

Another dizzy spell hit, and Ianto found himself on his hands and knees, suddenly gasping for air.  “What did you do?”

“Don’t get up,” Hart said, crouching next to him.“I mean, don’t even try because you couldn’t anyway.”He rifled through Ianto’s jacket pockets, pulling out the canister and his mobile, and then reached in for his gun.“Paralyzing lip gloss.I think Jack even taught me that trick.Guess you didn’t know him as well as you thought, huh?” 




He pushed against Ianto’s shoulder, and he went down onto his side.  He could feel the poison in his system, and he struggled against it, knowing he had to fight what was happening and to stop Hart from what he would do next.  His muscles felt sluggish and tired, and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest…

“Problem is,” Hart went on, “is that, if someone doesn’t find you in two hours, your major organs will go into shutdown.”  He stood, and Ianto watched as his boots strode across the floor, heading toward the door.  The boots stopped, and the dragon found his eyes tracking up until they reached Hart’s face.  He was grinning in triumph.  “He and I shared something, Eye Candy.  Don’t take it personally…I’m just getting rid of the competition.”

With those parting words, Hart left, shutting the door behind him.  Ianto heard the lock slide, and he was trapped.

He knew he couldn’t let Hart win.  He had to fight the effects of whatever it was that the man had used on him, and hope that his dragon metabolism would work through the poison, that whatever Hart had given him had been formulated for a human and not a supposedly mythical being.

Ianto triggered his transformation.

The container was almost too small, but the dragon felt immediately better once he’d changed into his proper shape.   He shook his head, trying to clear it, knowing he had to break out of the container and get to the rest of his teammates.  If Hart had gotten one cylinder, the dragon was willing to bet he’d go after the other two, and his teammates – his family – were in danger.

He had to crouch on all fours in order to move toward the door, and he still felt a bit dizzy, but the dragon thought he was strong enough to get past that metal door.  He dragged one clawed hand out from under his body, and then thrust it forward, hoping to be able to penetrate the container’s door in order to get leverage. 

The dragon was weaker then he’d thought, and it took him four tries before his claws managed to break through the metal.  He took a deep breath, and then pulled.

The door crumpled with a horrible shriek of tortured steel.  Using the very little room he had, the dragon tore the door toward him, and then pushed outward, demolishing it beyond anyone’s ability to repair.

He made a note to put in for a replacement using Torchwood’s damage fund, and made his way out of the claustrophobic container.

A part of him wanted to get to Jack first, knowing that Hart had designs on his mate.  But, he was closer to Owen and Gwen, and could fly there quicker.  If the Time Agent had tried to kill him, the dragon was willing to bet he’d try the same with the others.

Shaking off the last of the dizziness, the dragon launched himself into the air.

Hart had his manipulator, which meant he would have been able to teleport to the other coordinates.  The dragon was far behind, and really had no hope in catching him up, but he had to try.

If Hart had hurt any of his teammates…

The dragon let out a roar as he flew at his top speed toward Owen and Gwen.  Hart couldn’t be allowed to get away with those canisters; he very much doubted that they were really bombs anymore, unless Hart meant to destroy a large chunk of real estate somewhere.  Which would actually be in character from what he’d seen, but there was something in Hart’s demeanor, from the casual toss he’d given the canister when he’d picked it up, that made his theory a sound one.  Yes, the man was obviously unbalanced, but even the dragon didn’t think Hart would actively mess with something that dangerous, if it was indeed a bomb.

It took him ten minutes to get to the warehouse where the second canister was thought to be.  Circling the area, the dragon could make out Owen’s car parked not far from a side door, and the dragon landed beside it, changing back into his human form the moment he touched the ground.  The effects of the poison had obviously gone, and Ianto ran into the warehouse, calling for his teammates as he did so.

“Over here!” Owen shouted.

Ianto was able to find them easily enough, and he growled as he took in Gwen’s disheveled and bloody appearance as she tried to help Owen stanch what was obviously a bullet wound in his side.  He immediately went to help, and together he and Gwen got Owen as patched up as possible.

“It was bloody Hart,” Gwen explained as they worked.  “He took the canister.  And where did he get the damned gun?”

Ianto felt himself blushing slightly.  “He used some sort of contact poison on me and locked me in a shipping container.  I managed to shake off the effects, but he got my canister, phone, and gun while I was incapacitated.”

“And you were so sure you could handle him,” Gwen accused.

“If it had been anyone else, they would have been paralyzed and died a horrible death,” Ianto pointed out, not wanting to get into this with her.   He already felt bad enough that Hart had gotten the drop on him.  “I want you to get Owen back to the Hub, and I’m going after Jack and Tosh.  Hart will go there next.”

“I’ll be fine,” Owen assured him.  With Ianto’s help, the medic stood, although he looked hardly steady on his feet.   “Go after Tosh and Harkness.  And get that bastard, yeah?”

Ianto squeezed Owen’s shoulder.  “Count on it.”

Together, he and Gwen managed to get Owen back to his car, and Ianto waited until Gwen had put the vehicle into gear and was heading out before changing back into his dragon form.  Once again, he launched himself upward, worried about his mate and best friend, and hoping he would get there in time to stop Hart from trying anything.

Wings propelling him forward, the dragon flew as fast as he could toward the final set of coordinates, vowing to have words with Jack about letting Hart have his vortex manipulator back.  The ex-Time Agent had such a head start…anything could be happening, and the dragon would be powerless to do anything after the event. 

The office building that had been the source of the third Rift reading came into view as the dragon was castigating himself for letting Hart get the better of him.  He put on a burst of speed, his stronger dragon vision making out two forms on the roof of the building.  One of them was in a long coat; Jack, it was obviously Jack.  And the second…

Suddenly pushed Jack off the roof.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

Jack was worried about his mate, going off with Hart. 

He stood in the garage and watched as Ianto’s Audi pulled away, gnawing at his lower lip without knowing he was doing it until Toshiko put a hand on his arm and brought his attention to it.  “He’s going to be fine, Jack.”

“I know,” Jack sighed.  It didn’t stop him from worrying, no matter that he trusted Ianto to look after himself.  It was Hart whom he didn’t trust, and he couldn’t help but wonder what sort of trick his ex-partner might actually try on his mate.

He gave her a wide grin, trying to hide his concern.  “Let’s get going, shall we?”  He offered her his arm, which she took, and he escorted her to the passenger side of the SUV.  Gallantly he opened the door for her, holding her hand as she got in.

“Thank you, kind sir,” she giggled as he shut the door.  Jack headed over to the driver’s side and clambered in, sliding the key into the ignition and gunning the engine.

The coordinates took them to a high-rise office building near City Centre.  Toshiko got out of the vehicle, her scanner out and pointing toward the high-rise.  “The Rift was active at these coordinates, approximately two hundred feet above us. “

“That probably means the top floor,” Jack said, “or the roof.  Let’s get started.”  Jack headed toward the building’s glass door, which he opened with his vortex manipulator.  He held the door open for her.  “Ladies’ first.”

 Toshiko inclined her head toward him, and then entered.  “I hope you don’t say that to Ianto.”

Together they headed across the tiled foyer, toward the bank of lifts.  “I can truthfully say that Ianto is no lady,” he leered happily, calling the nearest lift down.

She rolled her eyes.  “I should hope not.”

The lift made a soft dinging sound as it opened, and Jack waved her inside, getting inside after her.  “I do have it on good authority that Ianto makes an excellent Mum for our family, though.”  It was one of the things he remembered from before that Year, the conversation about just who were Torchwood’s mother and father.  And he couldn’t dismiss the analogy; Ianto was the carer of their group, always making certain everything was all right and that they had everything that they would need at any time.  It was the very definition of ‘Mother’.

That made her laugh out loud.  “I wouldn’t say that to Ianto, either.”

Jack pouted.  “You’re taking away all my fun!”

Toshiko reached across and pressed the button for the top floor.“I’m quite certain you can find something else fun to talk about.”

“I could always quiz you about you and Kathy.”  He’d been surprised that Toshiko had gotten into a relationship with the acerbic detective inspector, but then Toshiko deserved to be happy with someone.  And it meant that the long-ago crush over Owen had finally been put to rest.

A faint blush painted itself across her cheeks.  “No, you don’t have to.”

“If I’m the Dad of Torchwood, then I think it’s my duty to have the Talk with her, about her intentions toward my daughter.”  Jack was enjoying teasing her, knowing that she was finally with someone who made her happy.  “Or maybe I should get your dragon-Mum to give you the ‘birds and the bees’ speech.”

That caused Toshiko to crack up.  “I’m quite sure ‘Mum’s’ had enough trouble trying to explain it to you!”

“I’ll have you know I’m quite skilled in that area,” Jack protested, trying to keep his own laughter under control.  “After all, where do you think you kids came from?”

Toshiko looked like she having trouble breathing.“Does this mean we get to be grossed out at the idea of you and Ianto having sex?”

“Owen already claims that.  Besides, having sex with Ianto is hardly gross!  Well, unless you count the –“

“Jack!”

“What?”  He tried to look innocent but knew he was failing miserably.

The lift opened, and they found themselves in a short hallway, and Toshiko steered them toward the left, and through a door into an open-plan office, most of the lights off. 

“Oh yeah,” Jack grinned, glancing around.  Desks were lined up in rows, and filing cabinets and various pieces of office machinery lined the walls.  “Loving that office-y feel.”

Toshiko rolled her eyes, her laughter just below the surface.  “Why did I think you had an office kink?”

“Maybe because Ianto spends so much time in my office with the door closed?”

She snorted.  “Some fetishes should be kept to yourself.”

Jack couldn’t help but chuckle.  “You know, while we’re here maybe I can photocopy my –“

“Jack!”

“It’s just for Ianto, I promise!”

“Don’t you dare go whipping any parts of your anatomy out in front of me!”

“I wouldn’t even consider it,” he reassured her.  It felt so good joking around with her, letting himself just have fun, even though the mission was serious. 

He stood there in the middle of the office space.  “We’re going to have to search every drawer, bin, and plant pot.”  That canister could have been anywhere in the office, it was certainly small enough.

“It’ll certainly be easier with my scanner.”  Toshiko waggled it in his direction.

“And my wrist strap.”  He held it up.   “Why don’t I head up to the roof?  Splitting up might be the best thing to do.”

“You’re only suggesting that because you enjoy roofs,” she accused lightly.

“I’m very good on roofs.”

“I’m sure if I asked Ianto, he’d agree with that assessment?”

Jack waggled his eyebrows at her.  “I don’t kiss and tell.”

Toshiko shook her head.  “I’ll start my scans down here.  You check the roof.  If you don’t find anything…”

“I’ll come back down and help you,” he finished.

“Why do I get the feeling you got the better of the deal?” she asked, hands on her hips.

“Well, I am in charge, after all,” he answered, winking.  “It’s the perks of the job.”

Toshiko made a shooing motion with her hand, while the other held the scanner out and ready.

Jack pushed the door open, heading toward the door that was marked as the roof access.  Despite his worry about his mate, he couldn’t help but whistle as he took the steps three at a time, having enjoyed his playful banter with Toshiko.  He’d missed his team over the last year, and it looked as if things were going back to normal.  Now, he just needed to get John Hart out of Cardiff and the 21st Century, and he would be happy.

He did wonder exactly what Hart was doing.  Jack didn’t really believe the entire ‘cluster bombs’ story, but he couldn’t take the risk that he was being at least partially honest about it.  And now, the man was off with Jack’s mate, and a part of Jack wanted to go and stake a claim on Ianto…while major part had no other desire but to protect the dragon, despite knowing damned well that Ianto could handle himself.

The night air ruffled his hair and blew the tails of his coat as Jack emerged onto the roof, gravel crunching under his boots.  He flipped open his wrist strap, punching the button that would activate the scanning function.  He had the readings that Toshiko had taken from the Rift spike that had deposited the canisters, and there would be residual energy marking the canister’s location.

Jack quickly scanned the area, his manipulator beeping as he moved toward the edge.  He saw it quickly; it was resting on the lip of the roof, and he thought he might be lucky that a stiff wind hadn’t blown it off the side of the building.  Striding forward, he picked it up, hefting the metallic cylinder, testing its weight.  His vortex manipulator hadn’t detected any sort of radiation, and now that Jack had a close-up look at the thing, he really did doubt that it was any sort of bomb.  Yes, he’d seen such things in his stint with the Time Agency, but this…wasn’t right.  He couldn’t put his finger on it, on just what was wrong with the canister…

He heard the rooftop access door open, and it crossed his mind that Toshiko wouldn’t have been finished with her search of the office…

Jack turned to see John Hart making his way across the roof, a rather salacious grin on his face. He was holding a gun, and he recognized it as Torchwood issue.Jack wondered where he’d gotten it.

At that moment, Jack’s mobile rang. He resisted pulling it from his pocket, knowing that it was most likely one of his team, and not wanting Hart to get ahold of the phone and ditching it.It was too late for any sort of warning, anyway, he already knew things had gone balls’ up.

“That would be your cutie pie genius, trying to give you a heads’ up about me,” Hart said, reaching toward Jack’s coat pocket.  Jack pulled away, glaring.  “Canister, please.”  Hart held his hand out.

Jack couldn’t believe how furious he was.  He felt as if he’d stepped right into a trap, even though he’d known Hart was most likely up to something that didn’t have anything to do with saving Cardiff.  He’d been as prepared as he could have been, but that didn’t make him any less angry.

But, even above the anger, was fear…fear that Hart had done something to his team, and to his mate.  He’d been as certain as he could have been, that Ianto would be able to handle whatever Hart would have attempted to do, and yet Hart was there, looking as if he was the proverbial cat that had gotten into the cream.  “If you’ve harmed any of them...” he growled, his protective instincts rising to the fore.

“You know,” Hart said, shaking his head, “they really were pretty, but very stupid.  You used to have better taste.”

“Not from where I’m standing,” Jack snapped.  He didn’t like the way Hart used the past tense; after everything that they’d been through, during that horrific Year, to have had this happen now…

No, he couldn’t accept that Hart had actually killed his family.  He was just trying to rattle Jack, and he couldn’t let that happen.  At least his ex-partner had claimed that Toshiko was all right, that it had been her trying to call him. 

He’d go after his team as soon as he dealt with Hart.

“Just give it here,” Hart answered, making a ‘gimme’ motion with his hand.

“Radiation cluster bombs?” Jack scoffed.   “Really?”

“Let’s not get hung up on details,” Hart said. 

Jack wanted to keep him talking, needing to know what Hart was up to.  At least he’d just confirmed that this cylinder wasn’t going to leak radiation all over Cardiff. 

He had to trust that his team was all right.  That Hart hadn’t actually killed any of them.  Toshiko had to be in the building somewhere, and Jack knew she’d try to either get to him, or to the others.  Owen could take care of himself, and had been a major player in the Resistance during Saxon’s reign; Jack would trust him to look after Gwen.  As for Ianto…the dragon was the strongest of them all.  He had to have faith that Hart hadn’t done anything to him, and that he had no idea that Ianto was even more than human. 

If he kept Hart busy…

“It must be a bit embarrassing that you needed our help,” Jack commented, smirking.

“Must be a little humiliating that you fell for the scam, and that your precious team had to do all my legwork.”   Hart was trying to rile him, and Jack knew he needed to be calm.  He couldn’t let Hart piss him off, or make him do anything that would make him take precipitous action.

The man had to have the other two canisters.  Jack couldn’t tell if he did, but he had to assume it.  If he got his hands on the final one, Jack knew he’d leave and that would be the end of it.  He was angry once more, only this time it was because he’d given his former partner a way of escape, by handing back his vortex manipulator.

The problem was, he had no idea what Hart was up to.The canisters could be anything, and there really was no way that Jack was going to allow him to get away with all three. He had to find out, to know if it was dangerous to Cardiff.  He had to put his worry for his team aside, and try to figure out what Hart was up to.

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Jack taunted.  His hand inched toward his gun, not wanting to telegraph that he was trying to go for his weapon. 

“What I want,” Hart said, stepping even closer, “is for you to come to your senses.  Join me, Jack.”

It was all Jack could do not to raise his eyebrows in surprise.

“Back in the old routine,” his ex-partner went on, “we’d be emperors.  How can you stand being tied to one planet, when there are thousands out there, each one sparkling with wonder?  We should be up there, claiming them for our own.  Just like we used to.”

Jack couldn’t believe it.  Hart was coming onto him, by bringing up the so-called glories of the past.  He really should have expected it, and yet at the same time Jack knew the pair of them would never be able to trust the other, even if Jack were so inclined. 

Anything that they’d had in the past, would never have worked.  They’d been too much alike back then, much to Jack’s personal disgust.  He’d changed; he was no longer the conman who’d held a grudge against the Time Agency – although he still did that, even if it would never do him any good.  No, he was different, and he had made a family and had a mate who accepted him for who he was.

He could never go back to the vagabond lifestyle he’d once had.   It wasn’t even the least bit tempting.

“Sorry,” Jack answered.  “Can’t do it.”

“But why not?  What the hell is there to keep you here?”  Hart was truly confused by Jack’s refusal; he might have been able to read tells and figure out weaknesses, but he’d not seen just what Jack had now.  “The glitter of the galaxy!  The mischief we could make!”

“You know,” Jack snorted, “you never really mastered that temptation spiel.”

“It’s not spiel,” Hart snarled.  “It’s fact.”

“Move on,” Jack snapped.  “Here I am, in a new life, and you’re still churning out the same old tunes.  But they don’t play the same way anymore, now that you’re looking older.  And what are those, anyway?  Wrinkles around the eyes?”  He knew just where to strike at his ex-partner…in his ego, and his vanity. 

“Laugh lines!”  Hart declared.

“What a joke!”  Jack couldn’t help it.  He knew he should have been trying to wheedle information out of Hart, but the man’s insistence of living in the past was irritating him.  He couldn’t afford to let the man get to him, but it was far too difficult.  The best thing Jack could do was to cuff him and get him back to the Hub, and throwing him in a cell like Ianto had suggested.  They could then work out what the cylinders were.

“It’s you I’m laughing at.”  Hart held out his hand once more.  “Canister.”

Jack knew he couldn’t hand it over.  Hart would take off, and while he was certain now that these weren’t bombs, Jack couldn’t risk there being something within them that could cause havoc. 

He held it up to the little bit of light that was illuminating the roof.  Then he smirked, and tossed it over his shoulder, hoping that it striking the sidewalk below wouldn’t do it any damage.  “Whoops!”

He could tell just how livid Hart was at his action.  This was the man at his most dangerous, and when Hart moved Jack had known it would go down exactly the way he had.

Using both hands, Hart pushed Jack off the roof, a laughing, “Whoops!” following him down.

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

The dragon watched in horror as his mate plummeted toward the ground.

He could tell he’d never reach Jack in time, let alone get as close to the building as Jack was with his wingspread and hope to stay aloft, and he roared his pain across the sky.  He turned away, not able to watch his mate die. 

No, he would make the one who killed him pay.

With another roar, he flew toward the rooftop, where he could see Hart turning away from the edge of the roof.  The sound of the dragon’s anger startled the man, and he turned, his mouth falling open as he finally caught sight of the dragon arrowing toward him.

Hart turned to run…but the dragon pounced, one clawed hand knocking him to the gravel of the roof, pinning him against the rough material.

The dragon looked down at the one who’d just killed his mate.  Hart was staring up at him, his pale eyes wide with surprise and fear…and something else, something that the dragon could not identify.  He didn’t care; all that he cared about was this ephemeral murdering his chosen mate.

It didn’t matter that Jack would come back.  It was because Hart hadn’t known that Jack was immortal, and that, as far as he had been concerned, he was murdering his ex-partner in cold blood.   Even if Hart _had_ known, there was no excuse for tossing someone they’d supposedly once had feelings for off of a hi-rise.

Lips peeling back in a snarl of pure range, the dragon glared down at the pinned man.“Give me one good reason why I should not kill you now,” he growled, flexing his claws so that they dug into the gravel and tar of the roof to each side of Hart’s body.




“What the hell are you doing –“  Hart choked off his words, trying to wriggle but not getting very far. 

“You have killed my mate,” the dragon answered.  “You do not deserve to live.”

“I’ve killed a lot of people –“

“Jack Harkness,” he growled.  “Jack was my mate, and he is lying dead on the pavement below because of you.”

An expression crossed Hart’s face, but it was gone so fast that the dragon wasn’t able to figure out what it was.  “Wait!”  Hart exclaimed.  “I can make it worth your while to keep me alive!”

“And what do you think you have that is worth that much that I should set aside my vengeance?”  The dragon narrowed his eyes at the squirming man.

“An Arcadian diamond,” Hart said somewhat breathlessly.“One of the most valuable gems in the Damascene Cluster.You could buy this entire backward planet with just a fraction of its value.I’ll split it with you! Fifty-fifty!”




The dragon couldn’t believe it.  “I see,” he growled.  “So, you’re offering me half of an extremely rare gemstone in payment for murdering my mate.”  The rage within him was stoking his inner flame, and he knew that Hart had to feel it, judging from the sweat that was breaking out on his face…or perhaps that was just fear. 

“Okay, okay!  Sixty-forty!”

“And just why do you think I’d be interested in such an object?”  He was beginning to put a few things together, and he was curious to know if Hart would confirm what he was beginning to suspect.

Hart was staring up at him, his pale eyes calculating.  “Dragons do like shiny baubles, don’t they?” he asked slyly.

“And just where did you hear that?”  It could have been from anywhere; while most information about dragons was found in myth and fiction, one of the things that were consistently correct was the need for dragons to hoard. 

Something shifted in Hart’s face once more.  “Who doesn’t like pretties?”

It was a nice cover, but he had to wonder if there was more to it.  Then he dismissed the notion, because how could anyone know about his kind?  He was the last, and he would remain hidden.  It was just Hart’s attempt to bribe him using something he most likely got from an inaccurate fairy story.

“Where do you think you’d get something like that, anyway?” the dragon inquired. 

“If you kill me, you won’t ever know that, would you?”

The dragon wanted to wipe that smug look off of the ephemeral’s face.

The sudden sound of the rooftop access door banging open had the dragon looking up from his prey, to see Toshiko come out onto the roof, her gun drawn.It went down at her side the moment she saw that Hart was down, and came across to join the dragon.There was a bruise on her forehead, and he let that fuel his fury too.“Are you all right?” he asked.“Take his wrist strap, please; I don’t want him vanishing on us.”




“I’m fine,” she answered as she did as he asked.  “Hart got the drop on me when he lured me out of the office downstairs by summoning the lift.  He hit me, claimed that the entire team was in danger, and then pushed me into the lift and sent it downward.  I was going to see if I could find you all, but I heard your roar and knew you were already here.”  She stepped back, pocketing the vortex manipulator.

“Owen and Gwen are on their way back to the Hub,” the dragon said.  “Hart here thought he’d locked me inside a cargo container after trying to dose me with something, but I was able to get out.”

“Eye Candy?” Hart’s incredulous voice brought the dragon’s attention back to the pinned ex-Time Agent. 

“I dislike that name,” the dragon snapped.  “Please refrain from calling me that again.”

“What about Jack?” Toshiko asked worriedly. 

“This bastard threw him off the building.”  The claws clenched again, and the dragon would have worried about the condition of the roof if he hadn’t had his mate’s killer under those self-same claws.  “And then he attempted to bribe me in order to let him go.”

Toshiko’s gun came up once more, aimed right at Hart’s head.

“Whoa!” the man cried.  “Can’t we work something out?”

“Shut up,” the dragon snarled.  He looked back up at Toshiko.  “Will you…look after Jack?”

“Of course I will.”  His friend holstered her weapon.  “What are you going to do with him?”

He considered that.  The dragon wanted nothing more than to kill Hart and leave the body for the scavengers, but he knew that any sort of corpse would bring unwanted attention.  The ephemeral certainly deserved the vengeance that was his to mete out, after what he’d done to his mate, but the dragon also knew that Jack would come back.  Still, he’d killed the Master for Jack; and he would do so for anyone else who hurt the man he loved. 

There was still the question of the canisters.  Even though Hart hadn’t admitted as such, the dragon was getting the impression that this so-called Arcadian diamond had something to do with their search.  Of course, he could be wrong, and the cylinders could be dangerous, but he was beginning to doubt that.

Still, he couldn’t very well kill Hart without knowing more about what was going on.

“I’m going to take him back to the Hub,” he finally said.  “Will you…will you make sure Jack gets back there as well?”  He really wanted nothing more than to be there when Jack came back, but he didn’t trust Hart not to make some sort of move on Toshiko.  He wasn’t going to risk her like that, not when he could get Hart back there faster, and safer.  And possibly give the man a scare for good measure.

“I’ll take care of him,” Toshiko promised.  “You can take out the trash in the meantime.”

“Oi!” Hart exclaimed, although it was rather weak. 

“Make no mistake,” the dragon said, staring down at him, “you are worth nothing to me.  The only reason you will still live is because we still need answers.  That need will stop the moment you choose to step out of line.  I shall not hesitate to execute you at the first sign of trouble.”

“I’ll see you back at the Hub,” Toshiko said.

“Be careful.”

“You, too.”  She gave him a brief smile, and then left the roof.

Without warning Hart of what he was about to do, the dragon pulled back his hand just enough to get his claws around the ephemeral’s body, lifting the suddenly struggling man off the roof, his wings pulling them both into the air.  He tightened his grip to keep Hart from wriggling free and falling.

Hart’s shouts were nearly lost on the wind as they flew toward the Hub.  The dragon had managed to catch sight of Jack as he’d flown off, and it had taken everything in the dragon not to land on the street and wait for his mate to come back.  How Jack had landed would mean that it would take a bit of time for him to revive, and he only hoped that Toshiko would be able to get him off that bench before that happened. 

The sight made him tighten his claws even more, in spike of the panicked cursing that accompanied it.

 

**********

 

The dragon landed on the roof of the Millennium Centre, not being very careful with his prisoner as he did so.  He quickly changed back into human, nearly having to tackle Hart as the man attempted to escape toward the rooftop access hatch.  It was a good thing Ianto didn’t mind heights, but he didn’t really relish being pulled over the side of the building, either.

At least Hart seemed to have some survival instincts; once he realised where he was, he didn’t fight anymore as Ianto wrestled him down the stairs and across the Plass and toward the Hub.  Luckily it was late enough – or early, as the case may be – that no one saw him practically dragging Hart by the hair toward the invisible lift.

Ianto was enjoying himself too much to care, really.  And there was always Retcon.

Hart did put up a bit of a fight, but Ianto’s slightly better-than-human strength made it fairly simple to overpower him and get him tossed into a cell, after relieving him of the three canisters.He kept Jack’s words in mind, that Hart should be able to find a way to escape, but he hoped that Jack would be back soon and they could come up with what to do with the man before that happened.Thinking of his mate sent Ianto’s stomach plummeting into his shoes; wishing that he could have been there when Jack awoke, that he could have been the one to stay with him instead of Toshiko.




But no, getting Hart back to the Hub had to have been his priority.  Jack would be fine, and he trusted Toshiko to look after his mate as well as Ianto to do his job.

He made certain the cell was locked and turned to go back into the main Hub, when Hart called him back.“Eye Candy!”




“My name is Ianto,” he snapped, standing in front of the reinforced plastic wall of the cell and crossing his arms over his chest, “I suggest you use it.”

Hart raised his hands in surrender.  “Fine!  Look, I just wanted to say…no hard feelings, okay? “

“Sorry, it’s a bit too late for that.”  Ianto spun on his heel and left the ex-Time Agent there, needing to check on the rest of his team.

He found Owen and Gwen in the autopsy bay, where the medic was just getting himself dressed once more.  Gwen was helping him on with his shirt as Ianto made his way down the steps.  “How is it?” he asked as they registered his presence.

“Not too bad,” Owen reported, buttoning his shirt.  “The slug was a through and through, so it just took a bit of stitching.  A few days off and I’ll be right as rain.”

“Good.”  Ianto clapped him on the shoulder.  “How about you, Gwen?”

 She shrugged.  “My face hurts, and I’m just wondering how I’m going to explain to Rhys about a split lip and bruises.”

“Tell him you took down a hardened criminal,” the dragon suggested.  “You’ll be a hero, and it’s not all that far from the truth.”   

“Sounds like a good cover story to me,” Jack’s voice echoed down into the bay.

Ianto spun.  Jack stood at the railing, leaning onto it, faint lines of pain around his mouth and eyes.  Toshiko was beside him, her hand on his arm in support. 

“Get down here, Harkness,” Owen ordered, jumping off the examination table.  “Tosh contacted me and told me what happened.  I wanna check you out.  And no, not in the way your depraved mind thinks.”

“I’m fine, Owen,” Jack waved him off.

“No, you’re not, and I can see it from here.  Don’t make me pull rank on you, Jack.”

“Jack,” Ianto said, meeting his mate’s gaze, silently pleading.  He knew that Jack would have recovered from the fall, but he couldn’t help but worry.

Jack sighed.  “Fine.  But you all know I come back just like nothing happened.  Then we can go down and question our ‘guest’.  Unless he’s suffered the wrath of the dragon.”  The words sounded joking, but the tone was deadly serious.  He made his way down into the bay.

“I only scared him,” Ianto admitted.  “Although I was sorely tempted to do much worse.”

“What do you mean?” Gwen demanded. 

“I mean,” the dragon said, succinctly, “was that the man tried to kill me, he shot Owen, hit you and Toshiko, and pushed Jack off a tall building.  It was all I could do not to drop him from a height on the way back to the Hub.”

“You can’t just kill someone in cold blood,” Gwen argued.

Ianto rolled his eyes.  “Tell Hart that.”

“Okay, Harkness,” Owen said.  “Take off your shirt and let me check your back.”

“You won’t find anything,” Jack argued, but doing as Owen asked.

“Let me be the judge of that.” 

Ianto could tell what was on Owen’s mind: the year Jack had spent in the Master’s hands, being tortured and killed over and over again.  Jack had commented that, at one point, his healing factor had begun to fail, and the dragon could tell that their medic wanted to make certain that wouldn’t happen again.  It hadn’t been that long since Jack had been a prisoner, after all.

“You know Jack heals when he comes back,” Gwen said.  “I don’t know what you’re so concerned about.”

“This is why you’re not a doctor, darling,” Owen answered acerbically.  “No compassion toward your patients…even the immortal ones.”

Gwen’s face went red, and she looked as if she was gearing up to argue with Owen, but Ianto cut her off.  “That’s enough.  We don’t need to be sniping at each other like children.  Owen, you check Jack out.  Gwen, I want you on CCTV duty: keep your eye on Hart; I want to know everything he does.  He’s tricky and I don’t trust him not to get out of that cell on his own.  Toshiko, you get a look at these canisters.”  He pulled them from his jacket pockets, where he’d placed them after taking them from Hart.  “I want to know exactly what’s so special about them, that Hart would try to kill us to get them.  Jack –“

“I know, stay here and let Owen poke and prod me.”  Jack was pouting.

Ianto didn’t let that affect him.  “Exactly.”

 “You know I love it when you’re bossy.”

“Later Jack, and I’ll boss you around as much as you want.”

 His mate’s eyes twinkled.  “Do you promise?”

“Bloody hell,” Owen swore, “keep that shit out of my autopsy bay.”

Toshiko giggled and Gwen rolled her eyes.  Ianto glowered at the pair of them, and they both headed off to do their assigned jobs.  “Once Owen’s cleared you, we’ll go down and ask Captain Hart a few pointed questions.”  He explained what Hart had tried to do on the rooftop.

Jack looked pensive as Owen prodded his back, checking for any leftover damage.   “I’m going to be extremely pissed off it this turns out to be just some sort of treasure hunt.”

“You’re not extremely pissed off now?”

“You have a point.  No one messes with my team and gets away with it.   Hart has a lot to answer for, and I’m going to get those answers out of him.”


	9. Chapter 9

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

Jack let Owen fuss over him, even though he knew he was completely healed.

He realized why the medic – and Ianto and Toshiko – were insisting…they were all worried about him after being in the hands of the Master, and wanted to make certain that his immortality was back to normal.  He’d confided in Owen over a phone call that, at some point during that year, his quick healing had slowed down considerably, and he could understand why the three of them were ganging up on him over his latest death.  It touched him that they really did care that much, and so he allowed Owen to poke and prod, while the others were off doing what needed to be done.

He could feel Ianto’s eyes on him, and relaxed under the dragon’s scrutiny.  It had been so long since he’d actually _mattered_ to others, that Jack wasn’t afraid to wallow in the warmth that it sent through him.   “Did Hart say anything to you while you were terrorizing him?” 

Even though Ianto was standing behind him, Jack could practically feel the eye roll.  “He tried to bribe me.”

“I take it that was after he pushed Jack off the roof,” Owen snorted.  He was using the Bekaran deep-tissue scanner to check on any internal damage.  “Didn’t know you at all well then.”

“That’s…not the impression I got,” Ianto murmured.“Or else he’s been reading fairy tales about dragons.He apparently thought I’d go for something shiny…he offered something called an Arcadian diamond.”




Jack whistled.  “Now, where the hell did he get his hands on one of those?”

“I take it he wasn’t lying when he said it was valuable?” Ianto asked.

“Not at all.  Arcadia was once a peaceful place, until the Daleks used it as a launch point for a major battle during the Time War.  The place was destroyed.  What diamonds were out there are the only ones left.”  The Time War had been devastating in its scope, destroying hundreds of worlds and time-locking at least a dozen others, including Gallifrey itself.

It did bother him that it seemed Hart knew something about dragons.  It would be something they’d be discussing as soon as Owen finished his examination.

“Okay,” Owen said, “put your shirt back on, Harkness.  Everything is good.”

“I did try to tell you that,” Jack sniped good-naturedly, doing as Owen bid and hopping off the metal table. 

“Yeah, well the last time I checked you didn’t have an actual medical degree.”

Jack couldn’t argue about that, even though he knew more about his immortality than Owen did. 

“Too bad,” Ianto drawled.  “I was really enjoying the view.”

He turned and grinned at his mate.  “I’m sure I can arrange a private show later on.”

“I look forward to it.”

“Christ you two, take that shit out of here,” Owen groaned, putting away the scanner.  “Some of us have jobs to do.”

Jack laughed, heading up the steps into the main Hub.  Ianto joined him the moment he reached the observation level, and he found himself in a fierce hug, which he gratefully returned.  “I’m fine,” he whispered in his dragon’s ear.

Ianto didn’t say anything, but his arms tightened just a little, before he let him go.  Jack missed the warmth of that embrace.  “Let’s go and see what Hart has to say,” he said.  “He’s about to get the biggest shock of his life.”

Ianto rolled his eyes.“I think we should let me go first, and then you can make your big entrance.”




“Sounds like fun.  Let’s see if he’s been up to something and then go down and have a little chat.”  To be honest, Jack wasn’t actually looking forward to it; he really just wanted Hart gone, after everything he’d done. 

“Oi, Dragon Boy!”  Owen called out, “I’ll want to check you out too.  We don’t know if what Hart used on you has any lasting effects.”

Jack’s heart clenched.  He’d known that his ex-partner had to have gotten past Ianto somehow in order to go after him and the others, but he hadn’t thought it had been that serious.  “Just what happened?” he demanded, resting his hand on Ianto’s shoulder.

“He tried to use some sort of muscle paralyzer on me,” Ianto admitted.  ‘He didn’t get enough on me to really work, and my dragon metabolism got rid of the rest.  Then he locked me into a cargo container and, by the time I’d gotten myself out, he was gone.” 

Jack knew exactly what Hart had tried to use on Ianto, and he relaxed slightly.  The paralyzing lip gloss had been formulated for humanoid lifeforms; it would have had some small effect on a dragon, but not enough to put him down permanently.  But that meant… “I warned you not to let him kiss you!” he chided.  A sudden burst of jealousy surged through Jack, and he had to clamp it down hard.

“He grabbed me and went for it,” Ianto defended.  “And I did actually push him away before he got too much of a lip lock on me.  Believe me, the last thing I wanted was that ephemeral’s lips on mine.”  He made the word ‘ephemeral’ sound like a curse.

“Good,” Jack said, tugging him close, “because the only lips I want yours touching are mine.”   To suit action with words, he pressing his mouth against Ianto’s, the dragon sighing as he leaned into the kiss.




“Stop it!” Owen cried.  “The last thing I need to see is you two macking on each other.  Go and tear Hart into little pieces and leave the rest of us in peace!”

Jack pulled away, laughing.  Ianto had a smirk on his face as he stepped back.  “Your wish is our command, oh Snarky One,” Jack intoned, giving Owen a rather flamboyant bow; to which the medic replied with a distinctly rude gesture.

“Perhaps later,” Ianto answered Owen’s salute. 

“Not likely,” Owen snorted.

Together, they both turned and headed into the main Hub itself, to be halted by Toshiko calling them over to her station.  “Whatcha got, beautiful?” Jack asked, resting his hand on the back of her chair.

The canisters were set up on her station, and Toshiko picked one up.  “According to my scans, these aren’t any sort of bombs at all.  In fact, they’re almost empty except for a small, angular device in each one.  And, the readings I’m getting pretty much match up with the device we took off that Blowfish earlier.”

Now _that_ was interesting.  “Seems like my ex-partner’s been fraternizing with low-lifes,” Jack mused, pulling at his lip thoughtfully.  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

The question was, of course, why Hart had had a creature as unreliable as a Blowfish go after whatever that strange pyramid was.  He could have easily done it himself.

“Why didn’t he just go after that device himself?” Ianto echoed Jack’s thoughts.

“Guess that’s one more thing to ask him,” Toshiko said.

“No,” Jack ordered.  “I don’t want to tip our hand.  We’re not going to mention the Blowfish or that device to him.  Let’s see if he incriminates himself first.”  He turned toward Gwen, who was at her computer.  From where Jack stood he could see Hart on the monitor, sitting on the bunk.  “Anything, Gwen?”

“He’s just sitting there, doing nothing,” she answered, sounding slightly irritated.  “I thought he was some sort of escape artist, the way you made him sound, Jack.”

“Believe me, the only reason he’s still in that cell is because he wants to be there.”He’d seen Hart escape from places that had been considered completely secure, and he wasn’t about to underestimate him.“Keep an eye on us as we talk to him.First sign of trouble, you all have permission to come in, guns blazing.  Ianto,” he turned to his Second, “let’s go play Bad Cop/Bad Cop with our guest, shall we?”




“You just say that because you know we both want to be Bad Cop,” the dragon chuckled as he matched steps with Jack and they headed down into the cells. 

“Why fight over it?” Jack returned, his hand touching his mate’s.  “There are other things I’d rather be doing with you.”

“Don’t you mean ‘to’ me?”

“There’s that, too.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Then you should know better than to incorrige me.”

“That’s not even a word, Jack.”

Jack mock-pouted.  “How do you know it isn’t in the future?”

“Because I flat-out refuse to believe that the grammar of the future is that bad.”

Jack laughed.  He couldn’t help himself.

 

**********

 

Ianto stood in front of the cell holding John Hart, while Jack stood a bit to the side and out of view of the cell’s occupant.  The dragon looked utterly forbidding as he stared at Hart, his arms crossed across his chest, and Jack wished he could see the look on his ex-partner’s face.  Hell, it was all he could do not to grab his mate and drag him off somewhere, to have his wicked way with him.  Ianto being like that was just plain _hot_.

“We know the canisters aren’t dangerous,” Ianto was saying.  “The question is, just what are they?”

“I think you already know,” Hart responded, sounding cocky.

Ianto’s mouth turned up in a slight smile.  “Perhaps if you hadn’t tried to bribe me, your secret would still be safe.  The woman who sent the canisters here…I’m assuming you killed her.”

“You did hear the part about the diamond being worth a lot of money, right?  There was no way I was gonna let her hide it from me.  It all comes down to money, you know…nothing else matters.”

“This is why you thought you could buy your way out of my wrath.”

“Look, I’m sorry about Jack…but he was standing in my way.  I didn’t want to kill him.”

Somehow Jack didn’t doubt that.  Hart had tried to get him to leave with him; he suspected that he’d only been pushed off the building because he’d tossed the canister over the side in order to get it away from Hart.  If he hadn’t he most likely would have been left alone with minimal bruising, but that would have meant his former partner’s certain escape.

Although, Hart had no idea that they had the final piece of the puzzle that he was looking for.  It would have all been for nothing.

“You know,” Ianto mused, “I actually believe you, especially after your comment to me about ‘getting rid of the competition’.  I think you really do want Jack, and killing him wasn’t in the plan.”  The dragon took a step closer to the hardened plastic of the cell wall.  “Just what is your plan, Hart?  Is this some sort of treasure hunt for a glittery bauble, and no one can stand in your way?”

Jack narrowed his eyes.  Had he and Ianto been that blatant about their relationship, that Hart had felt the need to murder his mate to get him out of the way?  His ex-partner obviously didn’t know him anymore, to think that.   If anything had happened to Ianto, Jack would have hunted throughout time and space for his killer, and nothing would have stood in his way.

“That ‘glittery bauble’ as you put it could set me up for life!I could do whatever I want, without having to worry about where my next bit of scratch comes from.”There was a pause.“The diamond would support two, you know.”   Hart’s voice practically dripped seduction.




Ianto snorted.  “Coming onto me isn’t going to work, Hart.  See, there’s something you don’t know about dragons…we mate for eternity.  If our mates die, we never take another.  You killed my mate…not only will I never forget that, but I’ll never be with anyone else, ever again.  So get that thought out of your head, because I happen to find commitment much sexier than plain old wealth.”  The words were full of anger, and Ianto’s arms were now by his sides, his fists clenched tightly.

“Yeah,” Hart answered sarcastically, “well your mate was splayed out all over the pavement –“

It was at that point Jack decided to make an appearance.

Hart was getting to Ianto, Jack could tell.  The dragon did take his commitment to him very seriously indeed, and it touched Jack more than he could say that Ianto was willing to stay with him for eternity.  But he felt it was time to make an appearance, and so he did.

He stepped into view, standing next to Ianto, close enough to feel the dragon’s warmer than human body heat.

The look on Hart’s face was priceless.  “That’s…amazing.  Seriously, you could earn a fortune in the Vegas Galaxies with an act like that!  Come on, how did you do that?  You were dead!”

“I can’t die,” Jack said, smirking. 

“No,” Hart said, shaking his head, “really –“

“No, really.  You can’t kill me.  No matter how many times you try, I’ll always come back.” 

Something flickered across Hart’s face; Jack thought he caught pity and fear, but the emotions flitted away too quickly.  “But what does it cost you?” he asked weakly.  “Every time you have to drag yourself back here, all that pain and trauma…plus, you’re reborn into this goddess-forsaken world.  I pity you.”

“You’ll never understand,” Jack said, shaking his head.  Hart might say he pitied Jack, but it was Jack who really pitied his former partner.  “There’s so much beauty here, and you just don’t see it.”  He put his arm around Ianto.  “And then there’s this: a mate, one who will be with me forever.  Everything I go through to come back…this makes it all worth it.  _He_ makes it worth it.  All that I’ve had to do to get to this point, no matter how terrible…as long as I have Ianto waiting for me, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Hart’s eyes darted between them.  Jack could practically see the man thinking, and for once he wished he could read minds, to see just what was going on in that brain of his.  It was as if he was weighing everything he’d seen and heard, and Jack wouldn’t put it past him to try to spin things to his own advantage.

Finally, the man said, “Look, I’ll leave.  Just give me the canisters and you’ll never see me again.”

“The canisters will somehow lead you to this Arcadian diamond, won’t it?”

Hart nodded.  “Yeah.  Let me just leave with what I came for and I’ll be gone for good.”

Jack pondered that.  They could let Hart go with the canisters, but he would never be able to find the diamond, if that pyramid device also had something to do with however it was supposed to be accessed.  They could give those over and Hart would be gone, out of their hair.

“If we do,” he said, “then you’ll leave and never come back.”

“You have my word.”

Ianto laughed.  “We’re supposed to accept that?”

“Why would I want to come back?” Hart scoffed.  “I’ll have what I want.  There’s nothing else here for me anymore.”  He shrugged.  “Sure, I’d love either of you to come with me, but I know that’s not going to happen.  So yeah, I don’t have any reason to stick my nose back into this backward time anymore.”

Jack got the feeling there was something Hart wasn’t saying.  “And?”

“And what?  Honestly, Jack, you’re paranoid.”  The ex-Time Agent rolled his eyes.

“No; I know you.  And you know something you’re not telling.”

“I think it’s been bloody obvious I don’t know anything, as badly as I screwed this job up.Look, Jack…just get me some useful Rift coordinates and the canisters and I’ll go back to my own time.You and Eye Candy can live in domestic bliss for all I care.I just wanna get my diamond and go back to the civilized worlds.”




He knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of Hart, outside of torture; which Jack wasn’t willing to do.  “Stay put,” Jack ordered.  “We’ll be back to let you know what we decide.”  He already knew what he wanted to do, but he owed the rest of the team their say in the matter.

“Fine,” Hart said huffily, plopping down hard on the shelf in the cell.  “Just hurry up, okay?  I’m bored silly in here.”

Jack didn’t dignify that with a reply.  Instead, he steered his mate toward the upper levels, keeping his arm around Ianto’s waist. 

He needed to talk to his team, and tell them what his decision would be.


	10. Chapter 10

 

**_15 June 2008_ **

 

****

“You can’t be thinking of letting him go.”

Ianto sighed.  He’d known, of course; he’d known what Jack had been thinking, and a very large part of him agreed; anything to get the man out of their time.  Certainly, the dragon within wanted revenge for Hart killing Jack, but more than anything he just wanted the man gone. 

“I don’t see any alternative, Gwen,” Jack answered her, leaning back in his chair at the boardroom table.  “We can’t keep him here indefinitely, and you think killing him is out of the question…”

The dragon wasn’t so certain that killing Hart was a bad thing, but kept quiet.  He didn’t trust the man not to pull something, but if this was what Jack wanted, then he’d back his mate.

“So, that’s it?” Owen asked.  “We give him what he came for, and he just sods off and leaves us alone?”

“I personally don’t see why rewarding him for throwing you off a roof is a good thing,” Toshiko added. 

“Who said anything about rewarding him?” Jack smirked. “I say we give him the canisters…but not the pyramid we got from the Blowfish.  Let’s see how close he gets to that diamond without it.”

They’d been cornered by Toshiko when they’d come back from talking to Hart, and she had confirmed that the pieces from the cylinders and the device they’d taken from the Blowfish were made of the same material.  It really was a foregone conclusion that the four parts belonged together in some way, although it was a mystery how Hart had gotten in contact with the Blowfish without triggering the Rift to his presence in Cardiff.  It was too much of a coincidence – and no one on the team believed in coincidence – that the pyramid ends up in Cardiff at the same time as the cylinders and they not be connected.

“Look,” Jack went on, leaning forward and leaning his elbows on the tabletop, “he won’t stay in that cell forever.  He’ll get out, and then he’ll do everything he can to get what he wants.  Who knows what might happen then?  Sending him on his way is the best thing for everyone involved.”

“And if he decides to come back?” Ianto asked.  “He won’t be satisfied until he gets the last piece of his puzzle, if the diamond really is that valuable.”

“If he comes back,” Jack said blithely, “you can eat him.”

“Is that a promise?” He bared his teeth in a smile that he hoped promised all sorts of retribution.

 “You really wouldn’t eat him,” Gwen said, her face paling slightly.

The smile must have worked, then.  “Of course not,” he waved the very idea off, “I don’t want to get indigestion.  I’d most likely just flame him and have done with it.”

“I can’t believe you’re even thinking about killing someone!”  Gwen was looking angrier by the moment.

“And what would you do if it was Rhys who’d been killed?” Ianto challenged.  “What would you have done?”

“You can’t even compare Rhys and Jack,” Gwen snapped.  “Rhys is normal; Jack comes back if something happens to him!”

“Yes, he comes back, but it’s agony for him!”  The dragon hated that Gwen treated Jack’s immortality as if it were some sort of gift.  “You seem to have no problem with condoning Hart killing Jack…when he didn’t have any idea that Jack was even immortal!  But when I want to defend my mate, you get all self-righteous and disagree!  It makes me wonder if you’d even try to defend Rhys if something came after him, if you feel that way!”  It was a low blow, but Gwen’s cavalier attitude toward Jack’s resurrections made him so very angry, he couldn’t help but strike at her in some way, and verbally was the safest.  It went against the vow he’d made in front of the Fae to threaten her physically.

In an ironic twist, it seemed that John Hart understood that it wasn’t all pretty when Jack came back, judging from his words down in the cells about Jack feeling the trauma of it.  The one person who shouldn’t get it…did.  And the one person who should have had more compassion toward her teammates…didn’t.

“Stop it, the pair of you.” Jack’s voice cut across their argument like a knife.   He glared at Gwen, who seemed to back off, and then turned to look at Ianto, giving his mate a small, grateful smile.  Ianto nodded, dropping the subject, settling back in his seat and knowing that his mate was glad that the dragon was willing to defend him, but there was a time and a place.

“Now, back on topic,” Jack went on.   “Yes, we don’t have any guarantee that Hart won’t come back, but at the same time there are only two things we can do: let him go, or kill him.  We could also turn him over to UNIT, but I don’t want the possible future knowledge Hart has to get into their hands.”

“And I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to be in UNIT’s custody,” Toshiko said with a shudder.  Ianto reached over and rested her hand on his shoulder, and she smiled weakly at him.

“So, those are our choices,” Jack finished.  “Release, or kill.”

Ianto would have preferred ‘kill’, and suddenly he wondered if he’d have felt the same before that lost year.  Would he have been so quick to use his flame or his teeth or claws in order to become an executioner?  Yes, he would still have protected Jack with everything that he was, but he had to be honest with himself: the Master’s rule had changed him irrevocably.  Before, he would have acted in defense.  Now, he was actually considering taking a life without pity or concern. 

He was a bit shaken by that thought.  The dragon had felt absolutely no remorse at killing the Master, and he doubted he would if he took John Hart’s life.  Had he changed that much that he could so callously murder someone?

But then, his mind harkened back to the murder of his family, and while Ianto had tried his best to push the details deep into his mind so they would not come back to haunt him as much as they usually did, he realized that he’d felt the same way when he’d attacked and killed those knights who had slaughtered his parents and sister.So, this wasn’t new; perhaps it was just that he hadn’t had someone that he’d loved enough to let the beast free when they were in danger?Examining his feelings, Ianto felt he would do the same thing if it was Owen or Toshiko or Kathy or Estelle or Alice and Steven that had been injured or killed.And yes, he would even move to defend Gwen, even though he had the distinct impression that doing so would gain him even more of the ex-copper’s condemnation, especially if it turned deadly.

He could feel Jack’s eyes on him, and Ianto met his gaze, nodding slightly.“All right,” his mate said, “I think the best option would be to get Hart some Rift coordinates and send him on his way.Once he’s gone I doubt he’ll be back, since he doesn’t really have a need to return.He won’t know about the piece that we have, and we don’t have to tell him.Personally, I’d like to take that diamond and shove it up his ass.”




Owen snorted at that.  “A gemstone suppository is just what that bastard needs.”

“I’ll check to see if we have anything coming up in the next couple of days,” Toshiko said, standing.  “The sooner he’s gone, the better.”

“And while you’re doing that,” Ianto said, “I’ll see about getting us some breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Jack stood as well.  “As soon as we get rid of him, the better I’ll feel.”

 

**********

 

It turned out that getting rid of John Hart was quicker than Ianto had thought.

Even before he could pick up the phone to call their favorite breakfast place for an order, Toshiko announced that the Rift was still active at the place where Hart had come through originally.  Ianto was relieved; he wanted this over as much as Jack did.  The protective instinct in him was very strong, and it would only fade once Hart was on the other side of the Rift and back in his own time.

The dragon wondered if it was going to be like this with Jack forever.  If so, it would take some getting used to.

“Toshiko, get the canisters ready,” Jack said, after she’d reported the Rift still being active at the car park.  “The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can have the rest of the day off.”

“I could use the sleep,” Owen quipped, leaning against the back of Toshiko’s chair.  “I’ve got a Skype appointment with Diane later on tonight.  Bloody nine hour time difference.”

Ianto smiled at that.  He hoped that a long distance relationship would work for the medic; he remembered that Diane had been good for him, before Manger had twisted Owen’s perceptions and had convinced him that she’d been taken by the Rift.  Even if, at the time, he’d thought the entire affair had been a bad idea. 

Well, he’d been wrong, and chances were he’d be wrong again in the future. 

Jack was grinning.  “Give her our best, all right?”

Owen rolled his eyes.  “Like we’d talk about you losers,” he teased.

“Why should they mention us,” Toshiko laughed, “when they could be having cybersex?”

“You have a filthy mind, Toshiko Sato,” Owen said mock-severely. 

“Takes one to know one,” Gwen put in, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her smile.

“If you stick your tongue out at me, Cooper, then I’ll have proof you never left school.”

And for that, Gwen did just that.

Ianto couldn’t help but laugh, and his mate’s chuckles joined his, echoing though the lower gantries of the Hub. 

 

**********

 

They took two vehicles up to the car park where the Rift crack still sparked and snapped. 

Ianto could feel it against his skin as he and Jack wrestled Hart out of the SUV.  Jack had insisted on keeping their guest handcuffed with a special set of cuffs that were made of hypersteel, and happened to be a set they’d confiscated off Hart in the first place.  The ex-Time Agent seemed very subdued, which led to Ianto wondering just what the ephemeral was up to.

It couldn’t be this easy.

“The Rift opening is just over there,” Toshiko said, gesturing with her PDA toward a corner of the rooftop car park.  “It should be open for a few minutes more.”

“Key,” Jack said, holding his hand out to Ianto, who pulled the key from his trouser pocket and handed it over.  His mate unlocked the cuffs, and Hart wrung his hands out overdramatically. 

“Did you have to make them so tight?” he whined, rubbing his wrists.

Jack rolled his eyes.  “Please.  Don’t forget I know what you’re in to.  Those cuffs weren’t tight enough.”

Hart gave him a winsome smile.  “Which just goes to show how great we’d be together.  Are you sure you won’t change your mind?”

“After you killed me?  No fucking way.”

“Worth a shot.”  Then he grinned.  “How about a new teammate?  I wouldn’t mind being around all this gorgeousness on a semi-permanent basis.”

“No.”

“Come on –“

“No.”

Hart pouted.  “You’re no fun.”

“I want you gone, John.  And I don’t want you ever coming back, do you understand?  If you do, Ianto will have something to say about it.”

Hart’s pale eyes darted from Jack to Ianto.  “Yeah, it’s not worth my life messing with the Torchwood Dragon.”

 _The_ _what_?

Ianto opened his mouth to ask Hart just what he meant by that, but the ephemeral was already speaking once more, and the dragon dismissed it as another attempt at a cute nickname.  Well, at least it was better than Eye Candy.

“I’ve always been a bit of a coward, you know that Jack.”  Hart held out his hand.  “Wrist strap?”

Jack pulled it from his pocket and gave it back.  Hart slipped it back on his arm, flipping up the cover to punch a few buttons.  Then he held his hand out once more.  “Canisters?”

Those Toshiko had, and she passed them over one at a time.  Owen didn’t look happy about it, and it was obvious Gwen was barely biting her tongue in order to hold back whatever scathing words she really wanted to say. 

Hart secreted them about his person, his expression smug.  “Listen –“

“No,” Jack reiterated.  “Just go.”

“If that’s what you want.”  Hart turned toward where the Rift energy pulsed.  Then he stopped, spun, and quicker than anyone could react he put his hand around the back of Jack’s neck and pulled him for a kiss.

Ianto growled angrily, but before he could break them apart Jack did it himself, pushing Hart away.  He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his greatcoat.  “Goodbye, John.”

Hart stepped back, and then spun on his heel, and with a touch on his vortex manipulator the golden tangled light of the Rift appeared.  He strode toward it and just as Ianto was thinking that it was all over, Hart turned back around.

“By the way,” he said, a playful smirk on his features, “I’ve found Gray.”

A pain-filled, wordless exclamation sounded from Jack, and Ianto was three paces forward when Hart backed into the golden Rift energy and vanished, the light of it making the man’s eyes glow eerily.  They were the last things Ianto saw before he vowed to kill the man the next time he saw him, for taunting his mate with the knowledge that his only family was still alive, somewhere out there in time and space.

Nothing would save John Hart from the dragon’s wrath if he showed his face again.


End file.
